Fixture

Caerleon v Rhydyfelin – Division 1 East

Rhydyfelin made the trip east knowing that a tough test waited in the form of newly promoted Caerleon.  The hosts had secured 2 wins from their opening 3 games in their 1^st season in division 1 East.  Rhydyfelin made a few tweaks to the pack, from the win last week v Penallta.  Tom Payne came in to the 2^nd row, Sam Studley shifted to flanker to replace the injured Kyle Perry, while Kieron Phillips returned to the starting line-up having missed the win over the Pitmen to be at the birth of his son last weekend.

The game began with a strong wind at the back of the visitors and it wasn’t long before we got our noses in front.  A scrum 5m from the line was shoved forward and the Caerleon front row were adjudged to have stood up, resulting in a penalty try, converted by Dai Gratton (0-7).  The home side were enjoying some possession and finding holes in the visiting defence out wide but Caer were unable to finish off their chances, due to bad decision making and superb scramble defence.  Rhyd weathered the storm and were much more clinical when the chance came to double the lead.  The forwards took the ball through the phases and 2^nd row Kevin Briggs crashed over for the try, again converted by Gratton (0-14). 

Although the wind remained strong for the duration of the half, Caerleon got themselves back in to the game with some possession and territory.  Although unable to convert try scoring chances, Caerleon converted two penalties before the break.

HALF TIME – CAERLEON 6 RHYDYFELIN 14

With the wind still strong a tough 40 minutes looked to be ahead of the visitors, however a quick start put the home side on the back foot.  Within a minute of the restart turnover ball was spread wide where winger Jordan Rees showed his pace and strength to dive over in the corner (6-19).  Before Caerleon had chance to respond, Rhydyfelin had wrapped up the bonus point with a 4^th try.  The forward kept the phases rolling while neat offloading and passing resulted in flanker Sam Studley crashing over for the score, converted by Ross Lucas (6-26).  The hosts looked shell-shocked and with our tails up ‘The Village’ didn’t let up over the next 15 minutes.  Superb offloading in the tackles and support play resulted in hooker Scott Pritchard scoring out wide, before winger Jordan Rees finished off another neat move to score his 2^nd of the afternoon (6-38). 

Caerleon rallied and enjoyed some possession and territory, however were again foiled by the solid visiting defence.  At the other end, chances were also being created and before long a 7^th try was registered after a chip over the on rushing defence was pounced upon and finished off by Jordan Rees for his hattrick (6-43).  Caerleon to their credit kept battling and got their reward with 5 minutes remaining when a 5m scrum was judged to have been wheeled by the Rhydyfelin pack, resulting in a penalty try (13-43).  The final word was had by the visitors though, with both sides playing out the final passage of play a miss pass out to the wing put Jordan Rees clear to score his 4^th of the afternoon, and 9^th in 4 games so far this season.  Ross Lucas converted the score to hit the 50 point mark for the 2^nd away game in succession. 

FULL TIME – CAERLEON 13 RHYDYFELIN 50

This fixture was also a Silver Ball game for Rhydyfelin, leaving our record at the moment as Played 3 Won 3 with 22 tries. 

Next weekend we welcome the other promoted side, Abertillary BG, to Hawthorn Rec in Division1 East.