Fixture

“As I return from a long but satisfying journey to Builth Wells today I am keen to chronicle the details of one of the best and most competitive games of Rugby I have certainly seen this Season

Well I wrote that on the 21^st January 2023 about a classic near miss at Builth which was followed earlier this year on 21^st April with another classic encounter which we won 34 – 27. So it was with fond memories and even higher expectation as we packed the bus at Parc Bedw and headed to the green fields of Builth Wells.

We sit unbeaten top of the league, Builth winless languish second from bottom .

 What could go wrong !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well after less than 5 minutes it started to go wrong, the home back line sprang in to action and with slick handling at speed cut through our napping defensive lines and the first try was on the board.

Is this going to rock us, hardly as a belligerent Steff Gibson lined up the conversion kicker burst off his line like a demented Usain Bolt and charged down the conversion kick. Not a sight you often see in Rugby and “two fingers” to the upstarts daring to breach our line.

So let’s get on with the show back on script and get our point gathering machinery of Gibson, Gibson and Crockett going.

Well at this stage I have to say that Builth had brought their own agenda and let’s not mince our words we were then left to view what many of the faithful have not witnessed since the dark days of 2012/13 (Glyncorrwg lost 156 -0, Penlan lost 84-5). An embarrassing and abject never-ending flow of opposition tries amounting to 12, 10 conversions and a losing score line of 80 points to NIL.

Where did it all go wrong. Well, some of our defending was powder puff to say the least. Some might say the referee may have been a local in disguise as he awarded penalty after penalty to the opposition and became overly pedantic at best in his decision making against us. The reality is though that no team can conjure up 80 points against an unbeaten team rich in talent and experience without an element of opposition self-harm. This is not to denigrate the performance of the Bulls though who were solid up front and fleet of foot behind and grew in confidence every time they crossed our line buoyed by the partisan home crowd and  announcer who got louder and more animated with each announcement (Good luck to her that’s what she came to see !!!)

We did not perform on the day 38 – 0 at half time. Panic and some ill discipline adding to the chaos as the opposition ran in a further 6 converted tries in the second half when at various times we were reduced to 14 and even 13 men. It was a collective bad day at the office though you could not point a finger at any player for obvious lack of effort. People like Steff Gibson, Liam Richards, Tom Downing, Josh Key, Chris Gorvett, Jack Rodon and others continued to battle away to try and restore some sanity to our performance.

The Tide overtook us though and we must take it on the chin re group and make other teams pay for this lapse. That crusade starts next week at home to Bridgend Athletic. Let’s back the lads to bounce back and realise their full potential.

Man of the Match was a difficult shout but undying effort in such demoralising circumstances is a unique quality so candidates :-

Liam Richards, Steff Gibson, Tom Downing.

The award goes to LIAM RICHARDS