Riverside Park, Rumney
Saturday 24th September 2005, K.O. 2.30 pm
Rumney : 15.M.O'Neill 14.M.Miller 13.G.Bowen 12.I.Blackburn 11.R.Hallett 10.D.Clark 9.R.Lawson 1.P.Douglas 2.M.Feneck 3.J.Harris 4.M.Kelly 5.C.Jones 6.R.Sutton 7.R.Fenton 8.S.Coles Replacements : B.Morris M.Harrington K.O'Connor C.O'Donoghue
Referee : Mike Cox (New Tredegar)
Scorers for Rumney : M.Miller try, R.Hallett try, D.Clark try and 2 penalties and 3 conversions
Scorer for Old Illtydians : G.Samuel 2 penalties
The big crowd that poured
into Riverside Park for this eagerly awaited local derby was not
disappointed as both sides launched themselves into attackin
g rugby from the very start, with the Old
Illtydians gaining the first points through a Gavin Samuel penalty
after twelve minutes. Before long the Rumney forwards started
to find holes with No8 Stuart Coles and hooker Michael Feneck
breaking through effectively, though Feneck shortly suffered a
head injury and was replaced by Colin O'Donoghue, but despite
their firey approach the home side could not turn this pressure
into points, even when the Illtydians had two men in the sin bin,
and the half time scoreboard read 0 - 3.
The second half opened with
Rumney exerting more and more pressure, play being located mostly
in the visitors' half of the field, and with flanker Ryan Sutton
controlling the line outs and O'Donoghue thundering through midfield
the Illtydians seemed to be on the back foot when their scrum
half Tommy Walsh suddenly counterattacked brilliantly from his
own twenty two and was unlucky not to reach the try line. With
the home pack now on top, influential centre Ian Blackburn powered
through the opposition defence, linked with lock Chris Jones and
when the ball was spun wide centre Gareth Bowen lobbed a clever
pass for speedy left wing Matthew Miller to gather and cross in
the right corner for the first try of the match. Outside half
Danny Clark added the conversion but from the restart Rumney relaxed,
conceded a penalty and Illtydian outside half Samuel reduced the
score to 7 - 6, but with prop Paul Douglas, flanker Ryan Fenton,
and lock Michael Kelly aggressively taking play back into the
visitors' territory, and scrum half Rob Lawson, wing Michael O'Neill
and Bowen finding more gaps, the pressure was telling and in the
sixty fifth minute Clark slotted a penalty for a high tackle and
added a further one from long range, five minutes later. With
only five minutes left on the clock, Jones completed an oustanding
day's work when he collected a high ball deep in his own half,
sprinted sixty metres, leaving six tacklers behind him and flicked
in a neat pass for flying wing Rhys Hallett to coast in under
the posts. Clark added the conversion and the eighty minutes were
up on Mike Cox's watch, when in the last play of the game the
Illtydians broke out from defence only for Bowen to skilfully
intercept a pass, sprint upfield and feed Clark whose neat footwork
allowed him to gather the ball and finish off an excellent opportunist
try. The outside half again added the points and with the spectacular
closing period producing the 
most exciting play of the afternoon,
Rumney and the Old Illtydians left the field having contributed
to a pulsating cup tie.
Gafyn Cooper, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "A pressure pot environment and a tense derby encounter with lots of errors and eagerly contested by both sides. Rumney put in a good effort in the first half and it was disappointing not to convert it into points but we turned it around in the second period to record a confident victory, scoring three tries to nil. The Illtydians tried hard to the end and it was an exciting contest, played in a good spirit. Ian Blackburn, Chris Jones and Stuart Coles were outstanding and the Man of the Match was Paul Douglas."
Gareth Bowen, centre Rumney 1st XV : "This was always going to be a tight derby with local pride at stake. On another day with a bit more composure, we might have made it more comfortable but the boys stuck at it and roll on the next round. Paul Douglas and Ian Blackburn were outstanding today."
Gareth Bowen
South
Wales Echo 28.09.05