Asda League Division 2 East
The Recreation Ground, Tredegar
Saturday 29th October 2005, K.O. 2.30 pm

Tredegar v Rumney 09.05.05

Rumney : 15.P.Niblett (Capt) 14.J.Offside 13.A.Jones 12.I.Blackburn 11.M.Miller 10.D.Clark 9.L.Miller 1.P.Douglas 2.M.Feneck 3.J.Harris 4.M.Harrington 5.M.Kelly 6.R.Sutton 7.R.Fenton 8.C.Jones  Replacements :  A.Fowler M.O'Neill C.Barker R.Hanmer

Tredegar 15   Rumney 25

Scorers for Rumney : M.Miller 3 tries, R.Fenton try, D.Clark penalty and conversion

Scorers for Tredegar : G.Kearney try, A.Green try, J.Williams penalty and conversion

Rumney came up with one of their best performances of the season to achieve a valuable and hard fought victory at the Recreation Ground, their first win on Tredegar's home patch since 1996. Playing directly into a fierce wind in the first half, the visitors showed their determination to run the ball from all positions, but the elements were such that after three minutes Tredegar winger Jonathan Williams was able to land a penalty from inside his own half. In the sixth minute Rumney flanker Ryan Sutton took opposition ball at a lineout deep in his own half, and neat passing by scrum half Miller, outside half Dan Clark and centre Anthony Jones put centre Ian Blackburn in possession on his own twenty two. Blackburn's magnificent break took play to over half way and quick second phase led to more good passing across the backs with No8 Chris Jones linking with brother Anthony to put wing Matthew Miller clear on a twenty five metre sprint to the try line. With Blackburn again bursting through midfield, full back Niblett coming into the line and Sutton continuing to dominate the lineout, Clark was able to start more moves to test the home defences, and in the forwards, props James Harris and Paul Douglas and mobile locks Michael Kelly and Mark Harrington all gained ground with speedy drives upfield. In the twenty sixth minute a midfield mixup gave Tredegar fullback Gareth Kearney the chance to score at the posts, Williams adding the conversion, and although Rumney continued to attack out of defence with more close handling movements, the home side exerted long periods of pressure and arrived at the interval with a 10 - 5 lead.

The second half started with heavy rain accompanying the driving wind and Rumney quickly took advantage of the conditions. A Tredegar scrum was successfully disrupted with right wing Joey Offside snapping up the loose ball, Douglas gaining twenty metres, Harrington taking it further and scrum half Miller setting up hooker Feneck on the burst. Chris Jones was on hand to take advantage of Feneck's second phase and started the threequarter movement which ended with wing Miller finishing superbly for his second try. Rumney indiscipline gave the home side a close range penalty which influential centre Andrew Green tapped to Kearney before taking the return pass himself to score a well taken try and put his side back into the lead at 15 - 10. A clark penalty in the sixty fifth minute narrowed the margin and from the drop out Harris took the ball well and eagerly supported by Kelly, Sutton and lock Carl Barker, set up Douglas for another big gain of ground, the second phase again releasing the threequarters and wing Miller achieving his hat trick after an excellently timed flick pass from centre Jones. Now leading 15 - 18 and with full time approaching, the visitors pressed on the home line and from a scrambled scrum Offside cut infield through grasping defenders and managed to pass to flanker Ryan Fenton who did particularly well to take a very difficult ball and blast through to score the decisive try. Clark's conversion was successful and despite a final flurry from the home forwards when flanker Lee Edwards came close to scoring, the defence held firm and with Sutton reliably securing lineout possession to prevent any last minute revivals, the scoreboard at the end of the game read Tredegar 15 Rumney 25.

Gafyn Cooper, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "First and foremost these were three vital points for our league campaign, but it was a very committed performance with the set piece much improved from previous games. The forwards set great targets and the backs ran good intelligent lines with Chris Jones and Matthew Miller having outstanding games, it was a great win. The Man of the Match was Matthew Miller."

Stuart Coles, forwards coach Rumney 1st XV : "I was very pleased to win, after last week we asked the players to stand up and front up and they certainly did that. In the difficult conditions we played almost the perfect half against the wind and then managed to get good enough field positions to score points in the second half. The pack were outstanding today, particularly Chris Jones who carried the ball very well and performed superbly."

Matthew Miller, wing Rumney 1st XV : "We did pretty well, the forwards cleaned out the rucks and mauls and Lee Miller put pressure on the opposition. Our centres played well in defence, Chris Jones was never greedy and gave me some nice balls to put me in at the corner. James Harris did some good strong running and Ryan Sutton was excellent at stealing the lineouts."

Matthew Miller