Fixture

Bridgend Sports Under Elevens 30 Nantyffyllon Under Elevens 30 

Bridgend Sports hosted Nantyffyllon in a pool fixture for their final game of 2016. Nanty had secured a 25 – 15 victory in the fixture at Maesteg Park at the end of October.  

 Whilst it is the time for Christmas spirit a tough competitive fixture was anticipated between the two teams but both sides agreed for player changes at ten minute periods to ensure all players had equal game time.  

Nanty won the toss and opted to kick off. The Sports with a large squad of twenty on the day showed early attacking intent, Dylan Morgan fielded the ball from the kick off ran and passed to Meg Lewis who made ground before passing to Mackenzie Dent and then onto wing Iestyn John who was held up.  Nanty conceded a penalty, this allowed the Sports to sustain the early pressure. Opting to move the ball back to Iestyn John he switched play to the opposite touch line then passed to Cian John and Dylan Morgan who put Tom Chick into half a metre of space. With his pace he made no mistake as he raced down the wing to score.

With both sides showing an ambition to move the ball, it didn’t take Nantyffyllon long to hit back. They were initially contained within their half but Leo Quinn saw an opportunity to beat a defender and then in acres of space, he accelerated away to bring the scores level.  Nantyffyllon then injected some pace into their game to mount and sustain several attacks on the Sports line, they were kept at bay by some solid defending and counter rucking which eventually saw the home side steel possession and then mount several attacks of their own varying play with Jack Short , Mackenzie Dent and Meg Lewis taking the direct route and then utilising the more subtle handling skills of the backs with Cian John, Harri Williams , Dylan Morgan, Tom Chick and Iestyn John always looking to create space.  Their reward came when Tom Coles made a break before passing to Dylan Morgan who put Tom Chick away for him to claim his second try and the Sports to lead 10 – 5 at the first break.

The Sports made 9 changes for the second period. The changes disrupted their rhythm of play and gave an eager Nantyffyllon side the opportunity to exploit some gaps. It was however the Sports who scored first to extend their lead as Jodie Keane, Callum Lewis and Dewi Worrall combined to release Joel Rogers who made no mistake in extending the home sides lead to 15-5 before Nanty used their pace effectively, particularly from the set piece moving the ball quickly. They used this to good effect to run in four unanswered tries with Josh Cooke claiming the first, Joe Quigley the next two and Leo Quinn the final try of the half for Nanty to turn around 15 -25 in front.

In previous matches between the two sides the Sports players would not have had the confidence to fight back against such a strong side. The young players are however developing and growing in confidence. They have strength in numbers and they took the game to their opponents in the third period to force the away team into errors with good first up defence. Mason Balmer and Meg Lewis then combined to take the Sports over the gain line but Nantyffyllon secured possession from the ruck, opted to kick long which was fielded by Sports Tom Chick; he looked up and backed himself to race in for a score from 30 metres out.  Meg Lewis scored a well-earned try as she drove through the Nanty defence in the middle of the field for the next try to bring the scores all square at 25-25 going into the final quarter.

In the final quarter, both sides moved the ball through the hands well. Morgan Liddle edged the away team in front when he snapped up a loose Sports pass and sprinted away to score.  The Sports hit back again as Chloe Gant passed to Mackenzie Dent who broke the line, Tyler Burton and Ieuan Pilliner kept the Sports going forward before the backs combined with Cian John, Callum Lewis and Dylan Morgan making ground to force Nantyffyllon to concede a penalty deep in their half. The Sports took it quickly for Mackenzie Dent to break through claiming the final try of the game. It was a game that started with plenty of Christmas spirit and the spice got added which resulted in both teams heading off into the Christmas break, sharing the spoils at 30-30.   

Bridgend Sports Match Day Squad: Callum Lewis; Chloe Gant; Cian John; Dewi Worall; Dylan Morgan; Harri Edmunds; Harri Williams; Iestyn John; Ieuan Pilliner; Jack Short; Jodie Keane; Joel Rogers; Mackenzie Dent; Mason Balmer; Megan Lewis; Thomas Chick; Thomas Coles; Tyler Burton; Tyron Davies; Will Ellis.