The back room boys worked hard today to prepare GLA for the visit of Rhydyfelin and Pillgwenlly. The weather was holding, the mood was expectant the crowd was large. Was nice to see some old boys on the touchline from the eighties and even the Mighty King of the Swingers, Peter The Whale "Pinky" Macey had emerged out of his hospital bed to loosen his larynx and terrify the referee.
Caerleon had some changes today, still no Knobby, no Dai Rossiter or WhatO Watkins (3 flankers out) so with Breakie at eight was Duly at six and Psyco Pat open side, reverting to his youth playing days. Tom was back at fifteen with Curtis and Joe Powell on the wings.
Rhydyfelin had a flying start,playing with the wind. They were a young fit looking bunch with, I would say, a touch of confidence about them, rightly so with 127 points scored in three games. They were awarded an early penalty five metres out that they requested as a scrum. They got the shove on and the scrum broke up. Surprisingly, the ref awarded a penalty try straight away! Rather harsh I thought for the first scrum. So Caerleon were 0-7 down after eight minutes. Caerleon then got going and both teams were exhibiting excellent running rugby, Caerleon giving as good as they got. Curtis made a break, Duly stole a line out and set up a ruck that had try written all over it. Unfortunately, Breakie was held up over the line. From the scrum Caerleon had phase after phase but we're losing ground back to the 22. Porky and Rhys made some ground then Curtis broke the defence only to be crashed into touch metres short. Unfortunately,again, Caerleon never got the try despite all their efforts. Rhyd cleared their lines and from a scrum 22 meters out scored a good try that was well converted despite the wind. 0-14 after twenty-five minutes. Cwchie and Duly combined to make some ground and when Duly was late tackled Morgan stepped up and slotted the three pointer to close the gap. Captain Macey made the break of the game, so far, from one 22 to the other this led to another assault on the Rhyd line and players down everywhere (like the Somme out there commented Kirky) anywho, this time a high tackle gave Morgan his second penalty and with eight minutes of the half remaining the score was 6-14. Caerleon spent more time attacking Tom and Pat having a dart but the away defence was very good so no more scoring this half. 6-14 was not a bad scoreline and with the wind at their backs Caerleon would be expecting a comeback in the second half.
It got off to a stinker. A knock forward in a tackle from the kick off led to unconcerned try, the restart went out on the full leading to more pressure on Caerleon. Three penalties inside the 22 and another try, this one converted, and Caerleon had conceded twelve points in five minutes and given themselves a massive mounting to climb. 6-26. The best thing I can do is shorten the second half down. Macey made a couple of brilliant breaks, one thwarted by an ankle tap, was held up over the line and the team awarded a penalty try. The opposition, however, rattled up another 24 points to win 13-50 (as difficult to write as to watch) Caerleon were not short of effort but Rhydyfelin's defence was first class, some strong runners in the pack and a match winning left wing who was the real deal. They turned defence into attack at the flick of a switch, any missed tackle and it was good night nurse.
It's difficult to be flippant and cocky (as is my want) when you've just seen your team get a hiding. So cliches are the way forward. The boys know they had a bad day at the office but we were beaten by the better team on the day. They got to pick themselves up and dust themselves down and get back on the horse next week. They can only play one game at a time. One falling leaf doesn't mean it's autumn (think I made that one up)
On a bright note the Helmets slaughtered Pillgwenlly and the all players appeared to have a good knees up in the club. Old friendships were rekindled I got mashed on cheep vodka (hope my heart specialist doesn't read this s##t). See you all next week. X
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