Match report by Jess Knapman

After a scintillating performance against Pontarddulais at home last weekend, on Sunday Taff’s Well women made the journey to Swansea with the promise of a tough, physical match from a newly structured opposition. A reinvigorated Pontarddulais took to the pitch with a desire for revenge after last week’s encounter and an eye for the try-line.

A Tricky Third Opponent

As both teams ran through their warm-up, a third opponent made itself known - the weather!. The wind swirled across the Gorseinon pitch, causing havoc to passes and kicks alike, and the winter sun lay low above the pitch shining straight into the eyes of the players. The flip of the coin saw Taff’s starting against the wind with the sun to their backs and the challenge of the game began.

Winger’s Delight

The rematch started with a real tussle for possession with the home team creeping closer to the try line with each surge, but an incredible turnover suddenly saw Taff’s with ball in hand in our own 22.  With the Pontarddulais defence distracted and drawn to the centre of the field, the backs were alerted to space on the left wing. With some beautiful hands along the back line, the ball was released to winger Sam Lewis who tucked the ball underarm and bolted down the touch-line, sprinting almost ¾ quarters of the pitch before bundling over the line for a brilliant try!

Taff’s Short-lived Lead

With the first points awarded to the visitors, Pontarddulais took the restart with determination. They hit back at our defence, using their powerful runners to hit gaps and break through. Taff’s held strong with some big tackles coming from centre Kirsten Field and lock Bonnie Heath yet, the opposition patiently whittled away towards the white-line and struck back with a try of their own to bring the score back to 5 – 5.

Scrum Time Domination

Taff’s Well chased the restart ball with renewed purpose and a formidable defensive line. Another turnover found the ball back in Taff’s hands, but an unforced handling error coughed up possession once again to Pontarddulais through a scrum just around the halfway mark. At the referee’s call, our forwards drove hard and straight through the mark and managed to overpower the home team’s pack. Louise Williams quickly pounced on the opportunity and whisked the ball away to begin a counterattack down-field.

Hard Running Reaps Reward

In attack, the forwards led the charge with devastating runs through the opposition defence. Ruth Wilding and Beth Morgan offered themselves with incredible strength and were both able to break through the first tackle and gain valuable ground towards the line. This sustained pressure enabled Taff’s to add another 5 points to the board with a sniping try from scrum-half Louise Williams.

Just before the half-time whistle blew, the opposition dug deep and hit back once again with a well-worked try of their own. Bringing the score to an equal 10-10, both teams regrouped and reflected on their first half performance.

Half-time Score: Pontarddulais 10-10 Taff’s Well 

Terrific Teuma Try

With the second half kicking off, Taff’s found themselves facing a new challenge in the shape of the sun which shone low and obscured the opposition from view. However, the ladies took the change of conditions in their stride and pushed forward with their attack. Georgia Teuma joined the pitch as a centre and made her presence known to the opposition with some powerful hand-offs. A commanding run down the centre of the pitch saw Teuma diving over for Taff’s third try which was beautifully converted by Kayleigh Cushing to bring the score to 17-10.

Pontarddulais Retribution

Our hosts didn’t take long to strike once again with their own third try. A string of penalties pinned Taff’s back into the 22 and Pontarddulais capitalised on the opportunity to cut the lead back down to just 2 points.

Stifling the Opponents Attack

As the restart landed back into opposition hands, they began to chip away up the pitch. A few hard runs down the middle drew our defence to the centre of the field, leaving a 2 man overlap on the right-hand side of the pitch. Their backs streaked through the gap, but a perfect covering tackle from Kayley Smith stifled the attack long enough for support to arrive. A few phases later, with the ball still in hand, Pontarddulais switched to the left-hand side where a new gap appeared, but Kayleigh Cushing and substitute winger Jess Knapman made the important decision to hold the player up. Reinforcement arrived and joined in with the referee deeming it a maul just before the Pontarddulais players collapsed, resulting in a crucial defensive scrum to Taff’s Well!

Williams with the Bonus Score

Another dominant scrum kept the ball in Taff’s hands as the game ran into the final minutes of play. With the score still at 17-15, the ladies needed to dig deep to deny Pontarddulais another score. Some more devastating runs from the forward pack manipulated the opposition to provide space for a beautifully angled run from fly-half Gemma Williams, who made a bee-line for the tryline and delivered an incredible fourth score just before the full-time whistle.

Final Score: Pontarddulais 15-22 Taff’s Well 

The Standouts

With another bonus point win under the belt, Taff’s Well Ladies now climb to third in the league! Thank you to Pontarddulais for hosting and pushing us until the very end and congratulations to both teams on dealing with some very challenging weather conditions. Forward of the match was awarded to Beth Morgan for a powerful performance at number 8 and back of the match was awarded to Kirsten Field for a brilliant stint in a new position!

Try scorers:

1x Sam Lewis
1x Louise Williams
1x Georgia Teuma
1x Gemma Williams

Conversions:

1x Kayleigh Cushing