Trebanos 2nds 38 Abercrave 2nds 28
Saturday 8th Sept 2007.
Yet again this was a game of two halves, Trebanos finding themselves hard pressed to hold the heavier and more experienced Abercrave team at bay during the first half-hour of this eventually thrilling game of rugby.
The visitors started off at a very high tempo with their speedy left wing running in two tries within the first ten minutes. Things were soon to get harder for the home team when they lost their young centre Stephen Matthews with a serious shoulder injury.
Abercrave took advantage of the home side having to re-organise and before substitute Nathan Griffiths had settled, a flowing move between forwards and backs saw Trebanos trail by 21 points. Abercrave tightened their hold on the game with yet another converted try. Trebanos could easily have thrown in the towel at this point, but their character came to the fore.
The lighter home pack refused to accept that up to this point they were coming second, lock Gareth Jones, hooker Jon Harding along with a competitive back row didn’t stop tackling. No 8 Daryl John led the fightback with a storming run to the try line from the base of a scrum just outside the visitors 22 and Trebanos went into the break trailing 5 – 28.
The second half saw the game break up and the younger, faster Trebanos team came into its own, being able to capitalise on the tiring visitors defence. An Abercrave attack broke down on the halfway; the home back row quickly picked up the loose ball and a few passes later the ball was taken over under the posts by left wing Mike Morris. The next two tries came in similar fashion, with the visitors again losing possession and the home team scoring tries from scrum half Owain Hyett and replacement full back Daniel Docherty, all three second half tries being converted by Owain Hyett.
Prior to the third try being scored Trebanos decided that their average age was a little low and so brought on Hywel Griffiths into the back row. Not to be outdone by the youngsters Hywel powered his way over with the help of the entire Trebanos pack from a close range lineout in a well worked rolling maul (although the distance will have lengthened by some 50 metres or more by the time Hywel plays again). It was a great day for 49yr old Hywel as he joined Nathan his 18-year-old son in the same team; he certainly showed that there is life in the old dog.
The last try of the day was probably the best in that it was created from ‘banos possession and was a team effort which saw Dan Docherty get his second try of the day which was converted by Owain Hyett.
Team: D Rees, M Morris, S Matthews, A Harris, L O’Sullivan, H Preece, O Hyett (Capt), M Cross, J Harding, S David, G Jones, M Frost, D Organ, H Davies, D John.
Subs: N Griffiths, H Griffiths, D Blake, D Docherty.