Fixture

Birchgrove took an insurmountable 2 – 1 lead in this year’s  Waunarlwydd series at Parc Bedw today !. Having already beaten today’s opponents in the WRU Plate competition but suffered our first league reversal at Waunarlwydd it was Birchgrove’s day today , just, as they came out 31 -24  winners.

The game started in express train fashion making light of the festive excesses and  Birch were soon in to their stride putting pressure on the away line with a combination of forward and back close passing combinations. The Waunarlwydd defence was stretched and conceded the first kickable penalty of the game which Matthew Edwards gratefully accepted 3 – 0.

The blitz continued with Birchgrove having almost total territorial advantage and putting together an endless stream of quick offloads as Liam Richards, Adam Percival, Scott Beard and Chris Gorvett all got a dose of white line fever. Calm was restored with a shrill burst of the whistle and again Edwards was on target 6- 0.

Birch though were not for stemming the pace and as Waunarlwydd tried to put their passing game together powerhouse centre Curtis Davies ripped the ball from a marauding away forward and set off on a 60 metre surge to the line for the game’s first try. Edwards again on target for the afters and a 13 – 0 breathtaking lead in the bag.

This could not continue, but in good old fashion panto season jargon “Oh yes it could !! “. This time Matthew Edwards was the panto villain as he coolly intercepted a Waun pass to himself sprint only 55 yards this time for try number 2. Could he convert it ? “Oh yes he could “ (apologies). Phew 20 – 0.

A Balance had to be restored at some stage and to Waun’s credit they started to put some phases together and their barrel chested right wing was starting to set alarm bells ringing with his pacey and powerful drives in to home territory. It was not a surprise therefore when after some concerted pressure Waun reduced the deficit with their first converted try 20 -7.

The game was now taking on a more even structure although Birch remained in the driving seat and still looked good for the next score although not from the next scene of the “Panto” an audacious and shall we say slightly misjudged, mistimed and just totally miscued 40 yard drop kick attempt from Flanker Tom Downing.  What was he doing Ha Ha !!

Anyway back to the serious script and Birch once again were putting the pressure on the home line and as Curtis Davies broke through, the away No 8 took one for the team and had a 10 minute rest for his efforts. Birch took the scrum against the depleted away seven and sharp hands from veteran Ricky Rosser, Owain Evans and Sean Hamer gave Lee Harris an opening for try no. 3 unconverted 25 – 7

You would expect the home side to be building from what might almost be an insurmountable position but it was Waun who were now taking the game to Birchgrove. A home indiscretion reduced Birch to 14 and the visitors took  full advantage when their No 14 who had threatened for most of the half went over for their second try and with the conversion brought the half time score to a much more respectable 25 – 14.

With the concern of an away comeback being expressed on the touchlines it was the home pessimists who looked as if they may be right. Waun scored first in the second half a penalty 25 – 17. Surely we will get a grip back on this game but it was Waun who scored second as well. A good scrum offered their No 8 an opportunity to break in to home territory and guess who was on the end of the offload and over for a try, No 14 !!, great conversion and the heady first half days of a twenty point lead and when will we get our first bonus point try of the season were long gone as the difference was reduced to 1 point 25 -24.

A steadying Edwards penalty gave us a 28 – 24 breathing space but the game was now on a knife edge. Coach Liam Gadd was summoned to cool things down and a brace of replacements thrown in to the fray. The game was now a lot more about attrition than flair and forwards Scott Beard, Liam Richards, substitute Stephen Crane and the recently overworked but ever willing Kyl Thompson were at the heart of the hard yards campaign.

With the clock running down it was the boot of Edwards once again who steadied the nerves as he converted his fourth penalty of the game and remarkably his 208th point of the Season (Outstanding!!) to bring home the points and set us up for the big WRU Plate quarter final against Glynneath next week.