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Trebanos 25 – Betws 36
Promotion chasing Betws were again on the road following their mid-week
bonus point win at Pontardawe. They were up against a Trebanos side
coached by ex-Swansea and Wales prop Christian Loader and found
themselves taking the field without their influential captain and hooker
Paul Roberts and their ball-carrying No 8, Daniel Howells, both
unavailable for selection.
The game started with the visitors playing against a strong wind, but the concerns of the visiting supporters were soon allayed when wing Mark Thomas crossed in the corner for a try, converted by centre Gavin Davies, to give Betws an early 7-0 lead. All seemed rosy at this stage, but the Trebanos XV then started playing with a tempo and commitment that Betws found difficult to cope with, especially in the contact area. They started giving penalties away and Trebanos eventually converted one to be back in the game.
Things got progressively worse for the visitors as Trebanos scored two
unanswered tries, both converted, and a further penalty, which made the
half-time score 20 – 7 for the home team. At this stage, coach Mark
Davies, currently on holiday in Las Vegas, may have wondered if a bet on
the roulette table and not on Betws gaining a bonus point was his best
option!
However, he need not have worried as in the second half, with the wind at their backs, Betws started playing the type of rugby that they’ve produced all season. The front row of Gareth Jones, Ian Morris and Rob Grey started applying tremendous pressure in the scrums with the Trebanos eight back-pedalling at a rate of knots and with the back row of Emyr Timothy, Gavin Thomas and Joe Adams now winning the contact battle, the tries started to flow. The scoreboard was soon ticking over in Betws’ favour with tries from Mathew Rees (2), Gary Davies, Wayne Comely and a second for Mark Thomas, giving Betws the bonus point victory they required to keep their promotion hopes on track. By this stage, Trebanos had opted for passive scrums, thereby negating the huge advantage Betws had gained in this aspect of the game. They did cross over for a consolation try in the end but Betws were the worthy winners. Trebanos have yet to visit Maes y Felin, but they showed in this game that they will not be pushovers and will provide Betws with another stern challenge. |
