Asda League Division 2 East
The Recreation Ground, Tredegar
Saturday 31st March 2007, k.o. 2.30 pm

Rumney : 15.P.Carlton14.M.O'Neill 13.G.Bowen 12.P.Niblett (Capt) 11.A.Carlson 10.D.Clark  9.C.Miller 1.J.Leadbeatter  2.M.Feneck  3.C.Fitzpatrick  4.M.Peard  5.M.Kelly  6.M.Way 7.R.Sutton 8.S.Coles  Replacements : N.Ritchie J.Harris  A.Wilson J.O'Sullivan

Referee : Jason Langdon, Brackla, Bridgend

Scorers for Rumney : penalty try, G.Bowen try, M.Way try, D.Clark try and 2 conversions

Scorers for Tredegar : I.Jones try, G.Kearney penalty and conversion

This vital match thundered into life from the opening whistle with a mighty drive from the Rumney forwards which devestated the first scrum and set out their stall for the rest of the game. Tredegar however, showed that they too were ready for a huge contest and their attacks were only stopped by determined tackling and rapid counterattacks upfield by visiting No8 Stuart Coles, lock Michael Kelly and winger Michael O'Neill. In their desire to halt the Rumney machine and encountering particular difficulty in counteracting lock Michael Peard, Tredegar were punished for offside in the eighteenth minute and outside half Danny Clark put his side in a good attacking position with a careful kick to touch. From the lineout flanker Ryan Sutton took clean ball to set up another powerful drive from the pack and it was Sutton who cleverly flicked the ball to Clark and along with prop John Leadbeatter, assisted in forcing the outside half over the line for the first try. Clark converted for a 0 - 7 lead but Rumnney soon found themselves on their own twenty two as the home side struck back making use of their most influential player centre David Davies, but once again excellent tackles from Kelly and centre Gareth Bowen kept them out and dynamic scrum half Chris Miller carefully gained ground by working the touchline. More clean lineout possession from Sutton started a remarkable handling movement featuring fullback Phil Carlton, Bowen and Coles which was only halted by desperate measures and referee Jason Langdon deciding that Tredegar prop Lee Price should have a spell in the sin bin. From the resulting penalty Rumney chose to attempt a pushover and when the scrum was taken down at the foot of the posts, Mr Langdon awarded a penalty try. Clark added the conversion but with ten minutes remaining in the half, Rumney entered a period where they were forced into a large number of mistakes and conceded penalties, Tredegar outside half Gareth Kearney taking advantage of this to open his side's scoring in the thirty fourth minute with a well taken penalty kick. The remaining minutes of the half were shared evenly with dangerous breaks by Carlton and elusive wing Andrew Carlson but the interval arrived with the score remaining at 3 - 14.

Tredegar started the second half with more powerplay by Davies and were unlucky to be stopped short of the line when handling errors cost them a score. Rumney centre and Captain Paul Niblett and Clark were now making huge gains with long range touch finders and despite being on top in the forwards, the visitors continued to make errors which were increasingly punished by counterattacks from opposition No8 Jonathan Evans and fullback Daniel Morris. The visiting front became ever more successful going forward with outstanding work from props Craig Fitzpatrick and Leadbeatter and mobile hooker Michael Feneck, and they were supported with more sterling defence from O'Neill, Bowen and flanker Matthew Way, and midfield breaks from Niblett. In the seventieth minute a surprising infringement at a Rumney lineout presented Tredegar scrum half Rhodri Jones with the chance to tap and go, and good second phase on the line allowed loose head prop Ian Jones to touchdown, Kearney's conversion taking the scoreline to a nailbiting 10 -14. Grey skies had replaced the earlier spring sunshine and a heavy downpour of rain made handling difficult, so it was no surprise when the Tredegar defence fumbled a clever kick from Clark and Niblett, arriving at express speed, managed to bounce the ball up to Bowen who raced through to score. With one minute remaining on the clock another defensive error by the home side delivered possession into the hands of replacement lock Anthony Wilson who gratefully cantered away before supplying a neat pass to Way, and although he still had a lot to do, the flankercapped an excellent performance with a thirty five metre sprint for the try which brought the match to an conclusion at 10 - 24.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "I spoke in the week about the penalty count, against Ynysybwl it was fifteen to three against us, so we worked on being disciplined. In all the games this year we have taken twenty five minutes to come into it, we knew we had to start well and that's what we did. Our set piece, especially the scrum, was absolutely superb today and we stole a couple of lineouts. If you have no set piece you have no platform, we disjointed the Tredegar scrum and played a lot of football, the first half performance was our best of the season but our downfall came in the second half when we gave away so many penalties that we could not get any territory or momentum. We struggled for thirty minutes with players in the sin bin and we gave possession away, but when it was 10 - 14 the character of the side showed through and we scored two late tries to seal a great win. These were the most important three points of the season, we knew that if we had the ball we could score tries, we now have an abundance of confidence, we are second in the league and are a sniff away from going up, fair does to these guys they have come on so far since last year, hopefully we'll progress to the First Division and if we do we'll continue to play with the same belief in one another, we have made great strides. The Man of the Match was Matthew Way, his workrate and tackle count were superb, for a guy just out of youth rugby he has settled well, he is first to the breakdown on every turnover ball and if he carries on in this way he has a very bright future in the game."

Michael Feneck, hooker Rumney 1st XV : "The forwards started well, we were strong in the scrum and lineout and that put us on the front foot early on with powerful play from John Leadbeatter and Craig Fitzpatrick. The backs clicked well from the beginning but we eased off just after half time and battled well to win in the end. I didn't think we were in any danger of losing but we just had to click again."