Fixture

This was a tough draw for Taff’s Well as the Quins 1^st XV play in the 1^st division and the visitors would have arrived with confidence but this really was an accomplished performance by the young Athletic XV who played some delightful rugby to win this Mallett Cup fixture with something to spare.

The Quins turned up with a big experienced pack and early indications were that the home side would have their hands full in the set-pieces as the visitors had the nudge-on in the scrums and were highly organised in the line-out and with flanker Rhys Green pitched at hooker, he must have thought that it was going to be a long night. After repelling early pressure, Taff’s Well did well to get in the Quin’s 22 with a great Matthew Wright bust who was stopped just short of the line but managed to win the put-in for an attacking scrum for his side.  As scrum-half Gwilym Edwards collected the ball from the back feet, he sold a great dummy and scooted over for a smart individual try to rock the visitors with Ronan Barrett adding the extra 2 points.

The Quin’s eight were using the driving maul as a very potent weapon and when they gained territory in the Taff’s Well 22 from a penalty won line-out, they immediately hit back with a powerful catch and drive to level the score thanks to a fine conversion from winger Lewis Haines – scores tied and 7-7.  The Taff’s Well backs were starting to put together some nice phases with their hard earned possession and took play up to the Quin’s 22 to earn another attacking scrum on the 22m line where Gwilym Edwards showed another bit of magic to ‘shimmy’ his hips and dance away for another excellent solo effort to put Taff’s Well back in the lead at 14-7 with Barrett again converting.

The visitors were comfortably winning their own line-out ball and were being nursed around the field by the big boot of outside-half Spencer Lumley who was having a good game and he again set the alarm bells ringing with a penalty into the home 22 to set up another catch and drive for industrious flanker Ashley George to drop over the line to take the score to 19-12 as the conversion was missed. Not to be outdone, Taff’s Well worked themselves back up to the Quin’s half and both backs and forwards put together some terrific passing for Barrett to pop up a short pass to Centre Josh Phillips who crashed over over for an outstanding team try to stretch the lead to 19-12 with a missed conversion.

Quin’s immediately showed their quality and started to ramp up the pressure and a try seemed absolutely certain as they amassed a huge overlap on the left but as the ball was being transferred along the line, Ronan Barrett put all his eggs in one basket and picked out an interception to race away from 80m to score for Gwilym Edwards to convert and stretch the lead to 26-12. The visitors must have been thinking that they had been pick-pocketed as their forwards had been doing well and their backs looked lively and dangerous but Taff’s Well kept on hitting them when it mattered and were starting to come to terms with the Quin’s scrum and winning good line-out ball to boot. The big crowd were enjoying the contest as both sides were throwing the ball around and looking to play attractive rugby and they changed ends with the home side leading 26-12.

The visitors set out their stall with more sustained pressure which led to a series of penalties and driving line-outs in the Taff’s Well 22 which looked ominous but thanks to a great defence and some pilfering that Ronnie Biggs would have been proud of; the ball was stolen and sent back up field for some temporary respite. Again the visitors attacked and following a penalty for offside, they ran wide to put winger flanker Ashley George in for his second try to bring the Quin’s back into the game but with no conversion, they still trailed 26-17.  Both sides were putting some good movement together with both Conor Barrett and Rhys Green putting in some great hits for Taff’s Well and there was no telling where the next try was going to come from but with the scrum bolstered, the home side were always looking dangerous behind.

Both defences were giving their all and forcing knock-ons but it was Taff’s Well who again put some neat passing together to break down the left, keep possession and allow outstanding flanker on the night - Conor Barrett to steal away from a maul and cross the line to put daylight between the sides at 31-17 with no conversion. Still play ebbed back and forth with the home side pulling off several last ditch tackles which frustrated the visitors and it enabled Taff’s Well again to break up field into the Quin’s half to put winger Ashley Jones away on the left to score his fifth try in two matches for Conor Barrett to show he had more tricks in the cupboard by adding the conversion to stretch the lead to a healthy 38-17.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Taff’s Well, having done all the hard work would look to capitalise on their lead and put on a show for the home crowd but referee Mark Sullivan had other ideas and punished the home side with two yellow cards in the last 20 minutes which meant that the Quin’s threw everything at Taff’s Well as they looked to cope with being a man down - and cope they did as with seasoned campaigner John Davies on at prop, the scrum held their own and the whole side tackled like demons to enable Taff’s Well to see out the game with a magnificent victory against a very good Quin’s side.

The Verdict

There’s a huge spirit in this 2^nd side and it shows as they not only keep their heads high, they’re capable of playing very attractive rugby with the forwards willing to go toe-to-toe with all-comers. Gwilym Edwards managed to rock the visitors with two well taken tries which gave the home side bags of confidence to go through the phases with off-loading and silky passing which produced some wonderful tries. For the Harlequin’s, flanker Ashley George earned reward for his efforts with two well-taken tries and Spencer Lumley looked assured at outside-half and although the pack looked strong and the backs looked dangerous, they can’t feel aggrieved at the manner of defeat on the night as the whole Taff’s Well team took the game to them and finished off any chances that came their way.

There were outstanding performances all the way through the team from the front row to the back three and a special mention must be made of flanker-come-hooker Rhys Green who not only formed part of a front row which grew as the match wore on against some powerful adversaries, he still managed to get around to put in a great shift in the loose. For the picks, you have to look no further than consistent flanker Conor Barrett who harassed and harangued all night long in the face of some big athletic opposition and would be many people’s man-of-the-match but I’m going to go for scrum-half Gwilym Edwards who not only scored two superb individual tries before the Harlequins had a chance to get off the bus, he put in a series of important cover tackles, swept up bad ball and tied in the Quin’s back row with a series of darts from around the fringes which provided more space out wide.

The most impressive thing for me was the way that the on-field decision making had worked out how to cope with a scrum that was going backwards for the first time in weeks, a menacing catch and drive from the line-puts, not over-committing in hard fought rucks and playing with a man down for 20 minutes so that the Quin’s were forced to play from deep in the own 22 during the final 10 minutes of the match – very effective game management. Great result, great performance, nice to see floodlit rugby back at Maes Gwyn and plenty of confidence for the 2^nd XV  take their unbeaten league form into the next game.

PS Taff’s Well may have thought they were hard done by with referee Mark Sullivan but it was only in the bar that I realised I went to school with him so I’m afraid he gets off scot-free (who said the old school tie network doesn’t exist?).

Dave Beese    davecbwales@gmail.com