Fixture

BRECON YOUTH END THEIR HOME LEAGUE PROGRAMME IN STYLE

A glorious spring day brought the sunshine out, and the crowds, as they flocked to Parc de Pugh to watch the Senior and Youth teams move towards the end of their league programmes. The latter deservedly remain top of their league, this being reward for great consistency shown over the whole of what has been a competitive season. Allied to this consistency, they have played some scintillating rugby, a point acknowledged by some opposition coaches, and have, in recent months, threatened to put a complete attacking performance together that has almost come to be expected by their large supporting contingent.

The fine day, following a recent dry spell, provided the perfect back drop to enable the team to adopt their expansive game plan, with the the hope that they would add some clinical precision to their efforts. The visitors to the Usk Valley were Tylorstown, a team who had downed the home team's colours earlier in the season, as they won their first four league games. Their season had stalled to a certain extent and their position towards the foot of the table was evidence of this. Notwithstanding, they have always proved to be a competitive unit, so the Brecon camp were taking nothing for granted as the game kicked off.

Tylorstown secured early possession, and were impressive in the way they approached the first phases of the game, and they pressed forward deep into the Brecon half. This proved to be something of a false dawn insomuch as they failed to turn the pressure into points, faced as thy were with some aggressive home defence. After a spell, Brecon gradually brought their own influence to bear on the game as they secured the ball for longer, and enjoyed periods of territorial dominance.

This, in such fine conditions, provided a real opportunity for the home them to develop their fluid attacking game and, in response to what their coaching team and supporters had long aspired to see, they produced a magnificent exhibition of expansive, yet controlled rugby, that saw them take the game away from their visitors by half time.

It was based on a committed and passionate display from the Brecon forward pack, as they dominated the set piece, and recycled the ball, in their phase play, with great effectiveness. The link between this impressive group and their supporting back line was working better than at any time in the season, and this was evidenced by the fact that, from the 9 tries that were scored, seven of these came from their outside backs. Dafydd Edwards led the way with a hat trick, closely followed by Tudor Roderick who added to his impressive haul for the season by adding two more here. Wingers Ruan Price and Tom Griffin also added a try apiece whilst forwards Josh Pritchard and Sam Maggs also touched down.

The latter one was an impressive individual effort insomuch as, following the safe claiming of the restart (Rowan Starkey was particularly influential in this element of the game), flanker Jonathan Davies broke forward before feeding the rampaging No 8, Maggs, who showed great pace and athleticism as he took the ball in from 70 metres. Whilst this try was notable for its individual contribution, the other scores were no less memorable as they involved play being executed at great pace, wth numerous players involved in some great handling skills and also showing exceptional awareness in exploiting some narrow spaces. The running, both with the ball in hand, and off the ball in creating options, showed significant game awareness and maturity, and the home team were wholly dominant in controlling the tempo of the game.

Tylorstown competed bravely throughout but were somewhat overwhelmed by the all round excellence of their hosts. The pressure they were under was not helped by some losses of discipline, and they also suffered some injuries to a few players. It is hoped that these do not prove to be serious and the home team's best wishes go to them in this regard.

With centre Huw Thomas adding five conversions to the tries scored, the game came to an early end as Brecon ran up 55 unanswered points. The home team have done all that their coaches have asked of them, and they travel away to Pontyclun for their last league game knowing that they need to hit the same heights as this performance. The committed efforts of the whole squad, with close on 40 players having been used over the season, with all adding value, mean that this group have given themselves the opportunity of enjoying success in three competitions. The club has a proud history, and it's Youth Teams have figured large in terms of enjoying, and adding to, the success over the years. The current squad do have the opportunity of achieving something that would potentially surpass this, and this is something that would be hugely deserved.

The group are an honest, hardworking set of players, with no little skill through the squad, and they will be aware that they need to continue to work hard to maintain the current performance levels. If they are able to do that then no more can be asked, and they will continue to make their management group and supporters immensely proud, and will remain a pleasure to watch.