Fixture

Birchgrove again strengthened their path to Promotion with a storming 0 – 20 victory over rivals Resolven and may in theory at least have also removed them from the race.

Birch kicked off with a strong wind at their backs and Resolven quickly revealed their tactical hand for the day by running the ball back at their opponents and shying away from any opportunity to kick in to the howling wind. They had not taken account though of the aggressive first line defence that Birchgrove have exhibited throughout the season and very soon a spilt ball gave Jamie Sturgess the opportunity to get Birchgrove in to home territory.

With this situation manna from heaven to the Birchgrove loose forwards quick ball had Adam Rowlands weaving his way towards the line and try predator Lewis Cox(Chubsy) on his shoulder to get the first touchdown. Converted by Matthew Edwards 0 -7

The game was to continue in the same vein for most of the half with Resolven having little change from their running tactics as the central defensive axis of Adam Percival and Nathanial Llewellyn ably supported by the marauding pack constantly prevented the opposition from breaching the gain line.

Birchgrove were again the next on the score sheet with a well taken long range wind assisted penalty from Matthew Edwards.0 -10 before play was interrupted with a nasty injury, suspected broken ankle,  to a Resolven player.

As play restarted, the collisions continued and although there were some glimpses of the speed of the counter attacking home backs on show the Birchgrove defensive wall remained intact .Our own sorties in to Resolven territory  through a mix of Rob Scrine and Adam Rowlands breaks and the brute force of the Birchgrove forward ball carriers looked more likely to bear fruit though but no further score saw the turn around at 0-10 and some questions being asked was it enough for the visitors who now faced the strong wind.

Well Birch were soon to show they were up for it as the Resolven kick off presented the visitor’s with their own opportunity to pick and go. The difference being though that the Birchgrove runs were knocking holes in the home defence as time after time Scott Beard, Liam Richards, Callum Llewellyn and Josh Key tested their mettle.

With the home gain line constantly being breached despite brave defence Birchgrove were able to move up field with a passage of play reminiscent of last week’s 35 phase Wales move (perhaps I am getting carried away but it was exciting stuff !!). A scrum well won by the solid eight saw Rob Scrine spread the ball to Adam Rowlands, Jamie Sturgess did a Josh Adams juggle off his pass (I  knew there were similarities to last week) but the dependable hands of Matthew Edwards were waiting to go over for try number two, unconverted 0-15.

Resolven restarted to more of the same but to their credit were now looking to pin Birchgrove back with the help of the wind and the visiting line was coming under the occasional pressure but the defensive effort was nothing short of superb and you got the feeling that “They shall not pass” was the order of the day

Having comfortably dealt with a mini storm from the hosts Birchgrove were to extend their lead with another “against the wind” textbook try. From another solid scrum Rob Scrine did a little snipe, Josh Key was on hand, as ever, to force the ball on. Two more phases and the line was in sight with the ball moving swiftly across the backs dodging the close quarter defensive patterns of the home side the ball was to fall to Adam Percival who charged over to add offense to his master class defence and try number three was in the bag 0 -20.

With the game over as a contest a bonus was the objective but was not to be although Lee Harris went very close but was just unable to complete another well structured move in the corner.

A great win and probably one of the most complete team performances of the season to complete the double over and “Zero” a very competent side.

The Mathematics still allow for us to be overtaken and even lose out on the prize of promotion as second placed but it would require a disaster of some proportion and us pick up no more points and others win all theirs for that to happen. But never say never and let’s keep this form going until it’s mathematically in the bag.

Well done lads.