Fixture

It was always ‘touch and go’ whether this game would be played. It took just 4 minutes for Gary Punter to twist his knee completely out, in the sodden mud, and that was the end of the game for him and a valuable loss for the Sports. The rain held off for about 5 minutes, then for the rest of the game it was a downpouring. The ground was heavy and the ball like the proverbial ‘bar of soap’. The actual play was reasonably exciting as both sides struggled to move the ball and made many mistakes. It was the classic game of two halves and the Sports dominated the first half and had enough chances to put the game out of sight of the home side. However, poor finishing with forward passes being the order of the day and the Sports threequarters opting for long passes in the conditions which demanded the opposite served to let Rhigos off the hook.

Only when prop Sean Donovan appeared in the Sports centre was there a glimmer of sparkle as he dummied the opposition and put a scoring pass to Ritchie Byrne on the wing for him to score near the posts. The failed kick by Jamie Pensom would have been the match winner. Apart from this movement, it was down mainly to the other wing Jamie Williams to show any real perpetration. Most of the first 40 minutes was played in the Rhigos half but the heavy conditions time and time again allowed the defence plenty of time to cover the ambitious Sports threes.

The second half belonged to Rhigos with much of the action being played between the two 22 metre lines. This time it was the Sports who defended quite easily against a pretty blunt Rhigos attack. In short it was something of a stalemate. There was a moment of brilliance from Sports skipper Lloyd Wilson who broke clear from a ruck leaving all in his wake including his own team, when the support arrived Wilson unloaded a little too early and the only real scoring chance for the Sports of the half went begging.

Rhigos then took control of the scrums and their heavier pack began to dominate proceedings.
There was not much wide movement and as they quietly ambled to the Sports line, gaining field position from penalties conceded by the Sports. It was with 10 minutes left that their big forward Dan Dudley rolled out of a ruck and over the line to tie the scores. The Sports now were facing a draw or loss to a side they had beaten by 50 points earlier in the season. In their efforts to gain field position the Sports continued to give away penalties and with minutes left the Rhigos full back Brandon Sherwood had the chance to win the game but the conditions were too heavy for him and the game ended 5 points each as rain continued to fall.

The Sports play Glais next Saturday at the Bandstand field which is the ‘top of the table’ encounter as Glais lead the division and the Sports are second. A good crowd is expected for the match. KO 2.30pm as usual.