Brecon RFC

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Brecon
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SWALEC WRU National League Division 3 South East Saturday 6th Sept 2008

Nantymoel 14 – Brecon10

The opening game of Brecon’s new season hardly light up what was a dark and gloomy September day. Conditions underfoot were treacherous following the recent heavy rain. Although there was little wind it was obvious that a running game was never going to be on the cards. The side which took control at forward, cut down on errors and took their chances was always likely to be the winner. Brecon lost the game rather than being beaten by a better team because they did not bear in mind those cardinal rules.

There was no doubting that Brecon played, or tried to play the better rugby. However, when they were in the ascendancy they failed to take a number of clear chances. Critically they also fell foul of the referee. Regardless of whether his interpretation of the ruck area was correct or not they had to learn to play to it and they failed to do so. They compounded the problem by questioning his harsh, if not faulty, decisions and as a result were regularly marched back ten metres. Then when they hauled themselves back into contention they tried to play rugby in their own half rather than build towards a score and it cost them.

While there were these negatives there were also positives. They held the upper hand in the scrums until Dale Williams was harshly sin binned and they were reduced to a seven man pack. Young Wyn Davies had a great game in the second row and was undoubtedly Brecon’s man of the match. Ian Keddle on his first competitive match after a number of years out of the game, looked a dynamic No 8 who will improve with match practice. Ian Hammond on the flank also made an impressive debut before injury cut short his game. The same could be said for young Gary Davies, on the wing, who did not put a foot wrong.

Brecon also at times looked dangerous and created opportunities. Owen Morgan at full back effective on the counter and when he made incursions into the line. One lovely break created a try scoring position only for his pass to wing Matthew Watkins to go astray. Another glaring failure to score came after twice Brecon had been held up over their opponent’s line. When the ball reached hooker Alan Taylor in midfield, some ten metres out, a try looked almost certain. His long pass to Matthew Watkins on a dry day may have put the winger away but in the mud Matthew had little chance to gather and when his opponent hacked the ball down field and then earned a penalty, which outside half, Ryan Davies kicked Brecon were severely punished.

It had all looked so different when Alan Taylor scored a try from a driving line out to put Brecon into the lead. The play leading up to the score had been exemplary. Outside half Dan Edwards put in a lovely attacking kick and Gary Davies and Rob Jones followed up and nailed the defending wing. He was forced to hold onto the ball and from the penalty to the corner Ceri Price won the line out for Alan Taylor to score. That was the pattern Brecon needed and seemed capable of maintaining but the start of the second half proved their downfall.

Playing down the slope they had all the advantages but they fell foul of the referee. Seven consecutive penalties, 50 metres surrendered for questioning decisions and a sin binning allowed Nantymoel into the game. Wing Mark Chapman had scored one well worked try at the end of the first half on one of their few incursions into the Brecon 22 but they can hardly have expected gain control of the game as they did at the start of the second.

Gradually Brecon pulled themselves back into the game as their numerical parity was restored. Under pressure the Nantymoel scrum half had his kick charged down by his opposite number, Geraint Price. Geraint re-gathered the loose ball and from 40 metres out outpaced the cover. Dan Edwards conversion just failed to give Brecon the lead but they seemed capable of making up the one point deficit.

Two costly errors ensured that they failed. Trying to move the ball wide on their ten metre line Rob Jones received man and ball and fell foul of the referee who penalised him for holding on as soon as he hit the ground. Again Brecon complained and again they were punished by ten yards and Ryan Davies’ third penalty. With just minutes left they Brecon camped on Nantymoel’s line but the game ended in a way that summed up their afternoon. After a great break Ewan Williams was tackled just a metre short of the line. He also was penalised for holding on, allowing Nantymoel to gleefully kick the ball dead for a win that they earned through playing a simple game to the referee and cutting down on mistakes.