Furnace 5 Betws 58

Betws 2nds notched up the half centaury with their best performance of the season away at Furnace. It was an excellent team effort with 10 players getting on the score sheet and a fitting way for Alan “Iceman” Thomas to finish his career with the club. 

 

Betws got an early score to settle nerves but Furnace resistance meant that their next points came from a penalty.   Once they had established this lead Betws were able to play fast tempo rugby spreading the ball around the field.

Keith Evans and Lyndon Thomas were back row wrecking balls, hammering into midfield and with the pack rucking well the backs had plenty of holes to exploit.

This total rugby approach resulted in 9 tries; Evans and Thomas led the way with a brace each while Mario, Murray Bach, Steffan France, Lee Moulton and Jon (go go gadget arms) Juice all crossed.  In addition, after last week when 3 kickers had faulty radars, this week Richie Griff (twice), Nathan Murray, Simon Jenkins and former Panty star Alan Pancho all slotted conversions whilst Keith got a penalty. The only negatives were Ted’s yellow card and some communication problems at the line out (Ice later switched his hearing aid back on).

 

This performance didn’t come as easily as might be imagined with Furnace playing a full part in the game.  Their full squad with subs was perhaps the strongest team they have put out this season and Betws only scored 3 tries in the 2nd half.  Their pack posed plenty of problems in the scrum and they fully deserved their late consolation try (even though they might owe the ref a pint)

The game saw the last regular appearance of Alan Thomas and Alun Williams who after centuries of campaigns are now only likely to feature in easy tour matches they know they won’t struggle in.  They showed that nothing had changed since they 1st burst onto the scene as young pups – both going off with injuries.  In their place Ted has signed up his gnome who he claims is younger, more mobile and better looking.

Betws XV: Jon Juice, Steffan Croissant (Simon Jenkins), Mario D’ Angelo, Lee Moulton, Nathan Jones, Richie Griff, Nathan Murray (A Williams, Paul Jones), Ted Williams, Gwilym Lewis (Cpt), Alan Ice, Luke Stafford, Gareth Llews (Big Jim), Lyndon Thomas, Keith Evans, Glyndwr Thomas.