Fixture

Llantrisant RFC | 1st Team 12 - 36 Mountain Ash RFC | 1st Team
Elliot Jones
Try 1
Lewis Morgan
Conversion 1
Jason McConnell
Try 1

Match Report
28 April 2019 / Team News

Old Firm Up To 50 League Points With 6 Try Win

The Old Firm notched up 50 League points and climbed up to 5th place in the Division 1 East Central table with this six try bonus point win in gale force conditions at Llantrisant.

Playing down the slope, Mount were on the attack from the kick off and took play close to the Llantrisant line on several occasions, with flankers Daniel Phillips and Jordan Coxley prominent.

The first score came after 14 minutes when No.8 Kriss Sanders, who had a busy game, disrupted a lineout throw from Llantrisant. Prop James Cowdry latched on to the ball and run powerfully to make ground. From the ruck, the ball was moved into midfield where second row and captain Jarrad Parfitt took it at pace to cut through the Llantrisant defence and pass to flanker Daniel Phillips who was on his shoulder, and he sprinted in from 20 metres out to finish off a fine 50 metre move and put Mount 5-0 up.

Two minutes later, the Old Firm increased their lead with another attack from halfway. No.8 Sanders and prop Cowdry combined to take play forward and once again the ball was quickly moved to one side of the field and then back, prop Cowdry taking the ball at pace in midfield to slice through the home midfield and run 15 metres to score near the posts and finish off another good piece of play. Full back Declan Conway converted to make it 12-0 after 17 minutes play.

Although behind, Llantrisant were asking questions of the Mount defence, but the Old Firm were not found wanting. The home team had their best chance in the 23rd minute when a dropped pass from an attack in their own 22 was picked up by a home player, and it was only a try saving tackle by a Mount defender and some excellent scramble defence by the Old Firm that kept the Black Army out. Llantrisant were awarded a 5 metre scrum and tried on several occasions to break through but the Old Firm were in no mood to give anything away and gained a penalty to clear the ball.

A lineout take and drive took play from the Mount 22 to halfway where scrum half Ross Davies, who was in the thick of the action, broke close to a maul, leaving the home defence for dead, and linked with prop Cowdry who run 20 metres for his second try of the game which made it 17-0 after half hour of play.

A good tackle on halfway by wing Steve Brittain stopped a Llantrisant backline attack, and then a scuffle among the forwards in midfield led to a home player being dismissed and a spectator being asked to leave the ground by the referee, which was out-of-being with the game, and turned out to be the only incidents in the whole game.

Right on half time, the home team took play up to the Mount line, but a couple of good tackles by scrum half Davies and some good work at the breakdown by the pack led to a turnover and the ball cleared.

The Old Firm took their lead up to 24-0 within a minute or so of the second half starting. Good passing between forwards and backs saw scrum half Ross Davies finish off a fine move with a try under the posts which Declan Conway converted.

Llantrisant were playing with the slope and after working their way out of their own 22, a home midfield player took the ball at pace to cut through the flat Mount defence and although a good tackle by full back Conway saved a certain try, the home side quickly moved the ball to go over for a deserved first score of the game and reduce the Old Firm’s lead to 24-5 after 49 minutes.

An excellent two legged tackle by Mount prop James Cowdry stopped a midfield player on halfway as the home team continued to play with plenty of commitment, and then after 57 minutes the Old Firm got a fifth try to go 29-5 up when pressure on a home 5 metre scrum saw the ball knocked on. From the resulting 5 metre scrum to the Old Firm, the ball was moved across the field where prop Tom Harper gave an overhead pass to flanker Jarrad Morgan, in space, for him to touch down midway out.

The hosts hit back in the 67th minute with a converted try after pressure in the Mount 22 to make it 29-12, and, with their tails up, it took some determined defence to keep them out again from another bout of play in the Mount 22.

Replacement scrum half Cory Roberts was linking well and clearing the ball nicely as Mount made changes. Flanker Jordan Burke, and props Gavin Evans and Geraint Lock, along with flanker Jarrad Morgan and centre Alex Hughes all came on and contributed to a committed Mount performance, with Hughes intercepting a pass on the Mount 22 from further Llantrisant pressure and clearing upfield.

With time almost up, an attack by the Old Firm saw the ball moved into midfield to second row Parfitt. He displayed the vision and skill of an outside half, putting in a beautifully judged diagonal grubber kick to the corner, to put the Llantrisant cover defence in all sorts of trouble as Mount outside half Morgan James eat the ground up in front of him. He overtook a lone home defender and did well to steady himself, pick up the ball, and dive over to finish off a well-executed move, which made it 6 tries for Mount and make it 34-12.

There is no 1st XV game this Saturday, 4 May. The last game of the League season for the 1st XV is on Saturday 11 May in Treorchy. On the same day, Mountain Ash Youth play Crymych Youth in the Champion of Champions Final at the Talbot Athletic Ground, which is the home of Aberavon RFC. The Youth will play their last game of the season a week later, when they play Merthyr Youth in the Blues North Cup final at the home of Merthyr RFC, The Wern. Whatever happened to a neutral venue for a final?

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