Fixture

Llandovery RFC | 1st Team 21 - 11 Bargoed RFC | 1st Team

Match Report
17 December 2018 / Team News

Llandovery v Bargoed Match Report

Bargoed travelled to Church Bank to face a Llandovery side in  Principality Premiership game. Bargoed were looking for an eighty minute performance after a promising first half against Pontypridd wasn’t built on in the second half last week.

In really testing conditions the game was tight early on with a cagey approach from both sides as they looked to dominate territory through their respective kicking games.

The opening score saw Jack Maynard put the The Drovers in front through a penalty when Bargoed strayed offside. The Bulls responded with a similar effort from Josh Prosser to make it 3-3 after twenty minutes.

Bargoed had conceded a couple of contact area penalties and when they conceded another tricky scrum half Lee Rees took a quick tap and The Drovers surged into the Bargoed 22.

When Bargoed conceded another contact area penalty, Rhys Buckley received a yellow card. The Drovers kicked to the corner and after Bargoed had defended a couple of scrums, Llandovery hooker Marc Jones eventually scored from close range to make it 8-3 after 25 minutes.

Llandovery started to turn the screw on Bargoed and when Captain Rhys Morgan was yellow carded for foul play, Bargoed worked really hard to keep their line intact with 13 players.

Rhys Buckley returned to the field and turned the ball over for Bargoed but a poor kick out put the Bulls back under pressure. The Drovers dominated possession and squeezed Bargoed with a series of drives before Joe Powell found some space and crossed for their second try under the posts which was converted by Maynard for a 15-3 lead.

Bargoed showed great character and bounced back and the Drovers had a player yellow carded. The Bulls used their powerful scrum to good effect with the front row of Morgan, Buckley and the impressive Suter dominant.

The Drovers were now feeling the squeeze which resulted in them substituting one of their props and the replacement Berian Watkins was on for two minutes before being yellow carded for collapsing. Bargoed used their two man advantage and scored wide out after a well executed kick from Prosser and touchdown for Jordan Howells to close the gap to 15-8 at half time.

Bargoed started well but couldn’t take advantage of the two yellow cards, and it was The Drovers who increased their lead to 18-8 Bargoed gave away another contact area penalty.

However The Bulls again showed great character and on 50 minutes a clever cross kick from Prosser found Ashley Norton who offloaded for Jordan Howells to crash over but the Ref pulled them back with a very dubious off side call. This was a huge call with the game right in the balance.

Bargoed did score 10 minutes later when Prosser kicked a penalty to make it 18-11. Llandovery again kicked well and pressure told as Bargoed strayed offside to give Maynard another three points and increase the lead to 21-11.

Although Bargoed worked really hard as the conditions worsened a mixture of handling errors and poor decisions resulted in The Drovers managing to close the game out with a 21-11 victory.

Head Coach David Lynch stated ‘The commitment of the players was excellent, they worked really hard and we’re disappointed not to pick up any points. The decision that went against us with the offside call from the cross kick was a key moment in the game. However we didn’t drop our heads and fought until the end. It’s frustrating because we deserved more out of that’

Bargoed can count themselves very unlucky not to get anything out of the game. Apart from the final 40 at Pontypridd, the last couple of weeks has seen a much more resilient side to Bargoed as they battle away from crucial points.

The spirit shown in those performances is encouraging and surely a slice of luck alongside continuing to work hard will see the results come.

Next week Bargoed entertain Newport in another Principality Premiership encounter.
 

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