Fixture

Birchgrove travelled to Ystradgynlais this evening with an air of confidence exuding from the players and supporters following the “two from two” to date. Confidence though is a fragile commodity but the feeling around the ground was that the young Birchgrove side retained enough apprehension and respect for the unknown of the higher division to drive them on to another  victory.

Ystrad, a well established side coached  by combative ex Scarlets and Wales forward Vernon Cooper were fast out of the blocks and soon pressing the away line. With the assistance of a weighty penalty count in their favour they continued to press and could have taken the lead from a disputed penalty kick which although flagged as positive by the linesmen was overruled by the referee.

It was a bit of a surprise therefore when the visitors took what was in truth at this stage of the game an unexpected lead. Having weathered the early storm the visiting eight were starting to impose themselves with young Kyl Thompson and his able partners in crime Callum Llewellyn and Liam Richards starting to dominate. A solid scrum ball gave Adam Rowlands the opportunity to swiftly attack the home defence and with what is now becoming a familiar loop move handed to Adam Percival before receiving once more making ground and allowing the supporting Nathanial Llewellyn to go over for the first try, unconverted  0 -5.An  Adam Rowlands penalty soon followed  0 – 8.

With Birchgrove taking this as a confidence booster, the scrum was now in complete command and together with the line out spoiling tactics of captain Scott Beard, Tom Downing and R J Di’lulio  the visitors were creating a highly effective attacking platform. This time then, no surprise as the second try came from immense pressure on the home scrum and influential No 8  Josh Key was able to control things at the back of a driving scrum for a try converted by Adam Rowlands 0- 15

Moving to half time another score for Birchgrove looked most likely but with lively scrum half Bob Scrine, Callum Llewellyn and Lee Harris all denied either by desperate defence or mishandling caused by the frantic pace of the game no further score came but a satisfying half for the young Birchgrove team.

The second half kicked off with Ystradgynlais, after a strongly worded half time team talk, looking to regain some pride. With their pack now showing a much improved degree of solidity and their dynamic half backs looking to get things moving at every opportunity this was looking like it would be a much more even game.

But this was not allowing for the other positive facet of the current Birchgrove game, a defence that does not know how to concede! Time after time the home side tried to conjure up a chink in the visiting midfield armour. And time after time they were beaten back with centres Percival and Llewellyn assisted ably by their back row support of Myatt, Key and Di’luilio continuously and thunderously driving back their opponent’s offensive efforts.

Having weathered the storm it was Birchgrove again who stepped up to the plate and a solid forward move carried on by Adam Rowlands, Josh Key and Luke Myatt gave last year’s top try scorer Lee Harris the opportunity to open his account for this year finishing with a cheeky little dummy for try number 3, converted by Rowlands 0 -22.

Was the game over? Well it could have been but Ystrad still had pride to play for and Birchgrove could still sniff a bonus point try.

So the game continued at a frenetic  pace, a credit to both sides, as Ystrad were first to reap reward for their efforts as they finally broke the shackles of the visiting defence to go over for their first try, converted  0- 7. They also continued to cut in  to the deficit with a further well constructed  try  and at 12 -22 there was a mild concern that maybe a late revival was going to sour the evening for Birchgrove.

This team are made of sterner stuff though and they were the ones to finish with a flourish when a penalty gave them an opportunity to secure a foothold in the home 22. A secure lineout gave scrum half Bob Scrine an opportunity to run at the home defence and quickly recycled ball found its way to backs player coach, still bravely sporting his six head cut stitches  from last week, Chris Weightman to go over for the bonus try and final act of the evening 12- 27.

A great game, a great result and a great start to what looks like could be an exciting season.

Well done to all involved.