Brecon RFC

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Brecon
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WRU National League Division 3 South East Saturday 27th December 2008

Brecon 0 – Llantwit Fadre 13

With conditions almost perfect for a mid winter encounter, Brecon faced a huge challenge at Parc de Pugh from unbeaten league leaders Llantwit Fadre. The visitors boasted eight wins from their previous eight league matches and came to second placed Brecon with a determination not to surrender their record or their seven point advantage over their rivals.

While Brecon have turned their season around after a disappointing start they have hardly had a consistent line up in recent weeks and that has hampered their ambitions to make a genuine challenge at the top of the table. If they were to establish their credentials then they needed to gain something tangible from this match. Once again they were forced to field a new half back combination with Paul Williams returning from a long injury lay off and Chris Wilton making his first start in the No 10 jersey. Another notable absentee was captain Andrew Davies who is still recovering from being worked over in the match against Treorchy at the start of the month.

Starting the game with new combinations hardly seemed to hinder Brecon in the first quarter of the match. They were far the more direct and positive of the two teams. They dominated possession and territory and the forward drives of Owen Davies, Scott Edwards and Ewan Williams stretched a very good Llantwit defence to the limit. During this period Brecon had the opportunity to post the first score and on numerous occasions they were halted just short. Centre Alun Davies, who had an outstanding game in attack and defence, created the first chance with a lovely straight run and link to Matthew Watkins. Eventually Ewan Williams was brought down just short of the line.

Wing Eurin Morgan then got close and forced an attacking scrum five. Eurin was again quickly involved as Owen Davies picked up and fed Paul Williams going blind. Unfortunately Eurin was unable to take a difficult pass with the line open in front of him.

Brecon’s dominance did not abate but the fact that they were not registering any points was worrying. A Gari Davies penalty hit the cross bar and Alun Davies, Ewan Williams and Owen Davies all got close but still the points would not come and gradually Llantwit began to lift the siege.

On their first incursion into Brecon territory after some thirty minutes they almost scored as prop G. George burst through some weak tackles before losing the ball over the try line. From the restart Brecon suffered as first Paul Williams was hurt while clearing a ball at the ruck. From the ensuing scrums Owen Davies did a magnificent job in protecting his scrum half by picking and driving but Brecon were unable to drive their opponents back down field. Unlike the scoreless long period of sustained Brecon pressure Llantwit made the most of their territorial advantage. Their passing was sharper and more accurate and with players coming onto the ball at pace they made the all important first breakthrough.

Powerful centre K.Allen burst onto a flat pass on the gain line and broke the defence to score.

Almost immediately the visitors again showed how to make the most of opportunities. From the kick off Dale Williams and Ewan Williams made good ground to give Eurin Morgan space on the right near half way. He was just held as he feinted outside. He popped up a pass inside to keep the momentum of the move but it first fell loose and was then swept up by the opposition. Their pace and awareness was once again evident as they stretched the now flat footed defence. Eventually left wing A Webb scored in the corner to give the visitors a ten point half time lead.

The second half became a war of attrition between two evenly matched sides with the Brecon forwards having the upper hand but with the Llantwit backs looking far the most fluent. Again Brecon squandered opportunities. A penalty in front of the posts was missed and some great forward runs again by Owen Davies, Scott Edwards and Dale Williams failed to result in a score.

Only as Brecon became desperate did they at last manage to create some width in their game. Owen Morgan was given one opportunity to show his pace as he made a lovely outside break and linked with Matthew Watkins who off loaded beautifully to supporting Ewan Williams. He was just hauled down by a last ditch tackle. Then Eurin Morgan counterattacked with great effect but unfortunately these opportunities out wide were too few with too many handling errors preventing any sustained fluency.

As the game reached its close so Llantwit finally closed it out. They were awarded a penalty and then another ten metres for dissent and scrum half C. Thomas completed the scoring and secured the victory with a simple kick.

After the disappointment of this result Brecon will now have to re-group for their game at fourth placed Llanishen. The impetus that had built up prior to the Saturday’s game needs to be re-established and there is no reason why that cannot be achieved.