Brecon RFC

63 The Watton
Brecon
Powys
LD3 7EL

Tel: 01874 624848
Fax: 01874 611719
contact@breconrfc.co.uk

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SWALEC WRU National League Division 3 South East Saturday 19th February 2011

Pentyrch 14 - Brecon 7

Brecon travelled to Pentyrch with a side much changed from the one that demolished the hosts at Parc de Pugh earlier in the season. The disruption to the side suggested that the result would be a much closer affair than the previous encounter and so it proved. Where everything had gone right for Brecon in the previous match, this time everything went wrong. It didn’t help when once again Brecon fell foul of the referee’s interpretation at the breakdown. Nor did it help when players of the stature of Gwyn Pengelly and Tom Daly had to be helped off the pitch with what appeared to be nasty knee injuries. However, there were serious flaws in the Brecon game and these were the main reasons for returning home with just a losing bonus point.

On the positive side the young front row of Mike Chappell, Jake Thomas and Ryan Harris acquitted itself very well with Mike Chappell also showing up well in broken play and Ryan Harris making a superb cover tackle on the Pentyrch wing who otherwise would have broken away for a try.

The most disappointing feature was that with a very good back line including Gethin Davies, Gwyn Pengelly and Owen Morgan Brecon were unable to make the ball readily available to them. There were a number of contributing factors at the aforementioned breakdown, scrums and line outs. The line out barely functioned because it lacked obvious targets and clearly suffered from a lack of familiarity. The scrum was solid but home scrum half B Davies was allowed to regularly disrupt and his efforts exposed the lack of co-ordination between number 8 and scrum half.

Stifled of clean possession the backs were not the effective force they should have been. Even so Brecon could have sneaked a draw. They fell 14 points behind during a critical period either side of half time. To give credit to the home team the first try was a great team effort which was all about supporting the ball carrier. Brecon lost possession on the home 22 and Pentyrch broke away. Covering tackles came in but on each occasion the player was able to find someone on his shoulder in support and eventually Brecon ran out of tacklers allowing outside half Barry Morris the honour of scoring in the corner. Scrum half B Davies converted expertly from the touch line.

Almost immediately after the start of the second period, Davies again proved to be influential. A Pentyrch attack seemed to have been halted on the Brecon 22 when some great counter rucking turned over the ball. To the amazement of everyone but scrum half Davies, the referee penalised Brecon and as they turned disconsolately towards their goal line he took a quick tap and ran untouched through the unprepared defence. He converted his own try and gave his team a healthy 14 point advantage.

Brecon did respond well to the set back. They produced their best rugby and with substitutes Paul Williams and Mark Lewis making a big impact Brecon worked their way back into the game. A move initiated by Mark Lewis and carried forward by Paul Williams eventually led to second row Berwyn Roderick crashing over for a good try. Full back Gari Davies did well to convert and bring Brecon to within one score of their opponents.

In the final quarter Brecon tried hard but became overanxious and errors were far too frequent to allow them to do any more other than earn a losing bonus point.