Fixture

With two minutes to go to half time Brecon held a lead of 14 points to 3 over their Division 1 rivals, Nelson. Their supporters were encouraged enough, by what they had witnessed for most of the first half, to believe that they could achieve a much needed away victory. Brecon had shown great commitment in defence, flair in attack and had taken their chances. At first phase they were competing well. The scrum was holding its own and, in addition to cleanly taking their own ball at the line out, Mitch Collacott and Andrew Hosie stole a number of line outs off opposition throws. With three minutes of the half remaining they were attacking on the Nelson 22 when a number of players made a complete hash of killing a loose ball. Nelson broke away initially as wing Aaron Humphries cut through the disorganised Brecon defence. He was only stopped on the Brecon 22 with a great Gari Davies tackle but Brecon killed the ball at the ruck. Nelson kicked to the corner, gained another penalty as Brecon collapsed the maul and finally Richard Jones scored from a quickly taken tap penalty. Carl Maybank converted and the half time score read Nelson 10 , Brecon 14.

Even with this set back Brecon had shown enough for everyone to believe they would witness a closely fought second period. It would be safe to say that nobody would have bet on the game turning into a dream half for the home team and a nightmare for Brecon.

Brecon started that second half well. They contested the ball at the kick off and pressurised Nelson. When outside half James Spear dropped the ball on his 22 to offer Brecon a scrum in md-field the visitors looked well set but they lost the ball at the base of that scrum and Nelson cleared to half way. Then for the first time in the match they won a line out on the Brecon throw. From the maul they switched blind and Brecon missed a tackle on wing Chris Pitt. He was eventually brought down inside Brecon’s 22 but Brecon’s defence, which had been so sound in the first half, was easily breached when prop Scott Morris brushed aside a number of attempted tackles to score under the posts, making the conversion easy for full back Carl Maybank.

Although Brecon scored almost immediately through a Jake Newman penalty, thus levelling the scores, that virtually was the end of Brecon’s effort as they were completely outplayed for the remainder of the game, with Nelson scoring a further four tries. Some of those tries were well constructed but others were gifted to them as Brecon heads dropped and the defence became paper thin.

This was all so different to the first half. On a damp afternoon but with a firm ground both sides looked to move the ball. The bigger Nelson pack looked well drilled and drove with close support. Brecon countered this effectively by tackling low to take the ball carrier to the ground. In this area Andrew Hosie, Aaeron Evans, Jim Williams and Mitch Colloacott were very effective. When the ball came wide Brecon’s defensive line speed was good and they closed down their opponents’ space. With the ball in hand Brecon’s backs looked dangerous and would have converted an early opportunity but for a poor final pass.

After fifteen minutes Nelson opened the scoring. Jake Newman put in a high kick and the chase was good but full back Carl Maybank shook off a weak double hit and set off on the counter. Although finally stopped Brecon gave away a penalty and Maybank gave Nelson the lead.

For the next ten minutes Brecon were forced to defend. They did it well and, in spite of the Nelson pressure, they held out, with captain Eifion Jones in particularly making some great tackles.

Having withstood this pressure Brecon moved on to the offensive. Second row Rhys Jones did some great work in ripping the ball away from his opponents at a maul on the Nelson 22 and when he handed on to hooker Jim Williams the Nelson defence had evaporated and Jim sprinted in to score under the posts. Newman converted.

Nelson then kicked the ball straight out from the kick off and Brecon immediately regained territory inside the Nelson half. A number of promising moves failed because of some over ambitious passing but eventually their pressure told. Eifion Jones broke through the middle on the 22 but was isolated. He showed great composure in holding the ball until support arrived in the shape of Blake Parata. The wing took the pass and then put full back Gari Davies away for a score which Newman converted.

Brecon could have extended that lead even further if they had been clinical in their execution and as half time approached they were looking confident and well placed. That whole scenario changed in the blink of an eye and the rest was history. If there was one thing to learn from the chastening experience it was that although depleted by injury they can compete at this level but that once things turn against them they have to collectively show greater resolve and commitment. They also have to learn that, in spite of what they think about refereeing decisions, they have to be automatically accepted because they cannot afford to be marched back an extra ten metres, as they were on three separate occasions, when things were already going against them.