Fixture

The short but eagerly anticipated trip to local neighbours and rivals Vardre , the first since season 2015/16 , a cup encounter which we won  8-27 , produced an entertaining game. The victory went to the home side 25-20 but on balance a losing bonus point was well deserved.

Before covering the game though can I just take a minute to offer best wishes to Vardre and also Birchgrove stalwart Liam Garland who was forced to leave the pitch with what looks like a serious leg injury all the very best and speedy recovery.

Well, the game kicked off and what you expect from a local Derby was soon manifesting itself but not in a bad way as both sides channelled all their energies on attack. Steff Gibson was held on a couple of sorties on the away line, the usual disruptive candidates, Cox, Key and Richards aided and abetted by Jack Rodon and Chris Gorvett were looking to take on the home defence and Ben Jenkins and Josh Jarrett were active in an attack which was being bravely contained by the home defence.
First score though was to go to the Magpies as a Birch attack was foiled and quickly turned in to a counter attack with the home centre James Garland going over for the game’s first try, unconverted 5 – 0

Birch were quick to respond though as Hanno Dirksen made ground and well supported by David Harris and Lewis Cox gained a penalty advantage. Scrum half Kyle Owen who had also been involved in the move took the initiative and despite desperate defence managed to squeeze in for the equalising try, converted by Jenkins and a 5- 7 lead.

More of the same, some end to end stuff. Who would be the next to score was anyone’s guess but it was the Vardre next on the board. Their scrum was solid as they set near our line, the first wave was held up but some neat passing put them in for their second try, again unconverted but a 10-7 lead at half time was a fair reflection of the game.

Vardre started the second half with forward ascendency but they also were falling foul of mishandling errors and Tom Downing was able to hack up field and with Josh Jarret in pursuit things were looking good. A penalty was awarded and Ben Jenkins stood up with one of the lowest trajectories kicks I have ever seen scrapping over to bring the scores to 10 – 10.

Well, here we go but Oh  No !! within the blink of an eye the Vardre were back in front, as the opposition 13 made a bee line for the whitewash and despite a last minute tackle from defending Steff Gibson crawled over for try number 3 and with the conversion a 17 – 10 lead. Now on a roll a penalty soon increased their lead to 20 – 10.

The visitors were not rolling over though and continued to chip away at what was a solid home defence but each attack was being pushed back with interest and when the Vardre found themselves back in an attacking position the critical score was to come. A solid scrum, an excellent piece of inventiveness and a long miss pass put their left wing in for the bonus point try and a 15-point lead at 25-10.

Birch though still had fight in them and a Jack Rodon try converted by Jenkins narrowed the gap to 25 – 17. A Grandstand finish perhaps as the visiting fans expectations were raised with stirring runs from Gorvett, Rodon and Dirksen brought a penalty some distance out. Ben Jenkins stepped up and converted , a bonus point in the bag at  25 – 20 and still time to play but referee Richard Cunniffe who had a pretty good afternoon brought proceedings to an end.

A home win, a good game, could have gone either way.  Not a perfect result for us but a losing bonus point is better than no return at all for a contribution to an agreeable, open and enjoyable game of Rugby.

Candidates for Man of the Match from the Independent Panel
Ben Jenkins
Josh Key
Chris Gorvett

The award goes to Chris Gorvett.

Next week, big game ,what is now a basement battle against our other Neighbours and also big Rivals Morriston at home 2.30. I will be away on holiday but wish the boys all the very best let’s get behind them and get back up that league.