Fixture

Brecon’s journey to the Rhondda Fach to face bottom placed team Wattstown should have been a relatively comfortable affair. It proved to be anything but that with the game being played on a small and very heavy pitch on a cold wintery afternoon. Anyone who expected a comfortable win should have read the signs. Conditions certainly didn’t suit Brecon and Wattstown’s recent run of matches have given notice that this is a resurgent team which is battling hard to climb out of the relegation zone. In their previous three matches they have defeated Abercynon and St Peters and only lost to a last minute penalty kick at second placed Porth Quins. Therefore, while the league table, with Brecon at the top and Wattsown at the bottom, suggested that the afternoon would be something of a formality what actually ensued was a dour battle, in front of a hostile crowd. Brecon eventually won because they showed greater flair when it mattered.

The forward battle was tight. Brecon held the upper hand at the scrum where the front row of Rhys Jones, Aaron Horne, Ryan Harris and their replacements, Liam Falham, Josh Williams and Jack Herring kept their opponents under pressure and stole two scrums against the head. The line out was a different matter. Danny Howe and Dafydd Thomas jumped well but somehow both Aaron Horne and Liam Falham fell foul of the referee’s interpretation of what was or what was not straight. At one point with Brecon struggling to assert control in the opposition 22 he blew up on four consecutive occasions for the same offence and warned the Brecon hooker for persistently failing to throw the ball in straight. The lecture baffled everyone and certainly frustrated the whole of the Brecon contingent.

Another incident also highlighted Brecon’s problem at times with the referee. When their dominant scrum faced a seven man home scrum on five metres the first drive was halted when the front rows came up and the scrum was re-set. The re-set scrum moved towards the Wattstown try line before collapsing. Surprisingly the referee decided that the Brecon front row had brought the scrum down and gave the penalty to Wattstown. That decision was critical as a Brecon score then would have put them more than a single score in front and they surely would have moved on into the second half with wind advantage and a clear lead. Instead their 4 point lead was cut to a single point on the stroke of half time when for the fourth time, Wattstown outside half, Mike Evans, stroked the ball through the middle of the uprights.

Even so with the wind at their backs Brecon should have been able to exert pressure and then make use of their extra pace to ease out to a victory. That didn’t happen as Brecon’s kicking game deserted them. In addition Wattstown battled hard and before Brecon finally settled the issue with a superb try Wattstown could have snatched a win when they almost won the race to touch down a charged down kick. Fortunately Gari Davies got to the ball first to save Brecon from a difficult final quarter. Having escaped, they almost scored themselves from a similar incident and for once they maintained pressure on their opponents. That pressure brought points, first from the boot of Gari Davies and then as a result of a lovely move which was finished by one of Brecon’s in form players.

Following on from his brace of tries in last week’s derby against Gwernyfed, Jake Crockett again monopolised the Brecon try scoring efforts with another pair to settle this week’s encounter. The first try came after the opposing outside halves, Gari Davies and Mike Evans had exchanged penalties to tie the score at 6 all. A long Wattstown kick downfield was taken by full back Jake Newman. His counterattacking run stunned the Wattstown defenders as he weaved his way into the home 22. Eventually he was closed down but found Jake Crockett on his shoulder. A well timed pass gave Jake some space and he cut through the remnants of the defence to score. Gari Davies converted and while playing into the wind the 7 point lead was a fair reflection of Brecon’s superiority.

Immediately from the kick off they gave away a soft score. Danny Howe took the ball well and carried to the ten metre line but the support was slow to arrive and Brecon conceded a penalty at the breakdown, allowing Evans to kick his third penalty. His fourth came on half time to reduce the lead to a single point.

The second half was for the most part a dour battle with Wattstown competing hard. The game could have swung either way until Gari Davies slotted his third penalty. From that point on Brecon found some control. Eventually the winning try came and it was a beauty. Eifion Jones first punched hard down the middle and the, straight running, Craig Davies entered the line and drew the defence to create an overlap. When Jake Newman received the ball a try was not certain as on the narrow pitch Brecon were running out of space. He did everything right. With the ball in two hands he ran hard and straight forcing the defence to commit to him and once they did he passed to Crockett who was almost on the touch line. With no room for error he showed great balance and pace to scythe across the line right in the corner. The conversion failed but although there were some minutes to go the game was won and the Brecon’s 100% away record was extended.

At the final whistle further good news was received as mobile phones were abuzz with the news that the Second XV had won their Cup semi-final against league leaders, Aberdare. So with double cause to celebrate the club will be looking to continue progress at Parc de Pugh on Saturday 7^th Feb when they face old rivals, Abercynon.