Fixture

With Pontylcun unable to raise a side for the league encounter, the Taff’s Well 2^ND XV managed to get a friendly game away against a strong Tondu XV but somebody forgot to set the team alarm clock as you would have been forgiven for thinking that Taff’s Well failed to show up for the first half. Despite dominating the scrums, Tondu rattled up three unanswered first half tries as players were looking disbelieving  at each other while the home outside half who plays for the Royal Navy made hay thanks to the lack of composure from the visitors. The half was a mixture of poor handling, aimless kicking , weak tackling plus a yellow card for prop John Davies as Taff’s Well struggled to get their game together and with Tondu were winning the lion’s share of possession, the half–time couldn’t come quick enough as Taff’s Well looked to regroup at the break.

Any hopes of getting off to a good start were dashed as some poor defence let in Tondu for a fourth try and put them in a commanding 26-0 lead with the omens starting to look bad. Thankfully, this team is made of sterner stuff and with a little bit of refocusing, Taff’s Well started to get their act together and show signs of their league form. With a controlling scrum and possession starting to come freely, the backs started to get going with centre Martin Detorres looking menacing and the pattern of the match starting to change. From a lineout in the Tondu 22, the pack formed a superb rolling maul which took play to the home line for flanker Rhys Green to pounce over for a try, the conversion going begging.

Even though Taff’s Well suffered with a second yellow card, this time for No8 Connor Barrett, they were becoming the stronger side and with Martin Detorres taking up the ball and asking his pack for support, he was driven over the line for a second visiting score to take the score to 26-10. The chances were now coming thick and fast and prop Warren Rees broke to find himself in space but just lacked that bit of gas to get to the line. For all the possession and chances, the visitors were unable to convert their superiority and the match ended at 26-10 to Tondu and with it the chance of what might have been.

                                 Final Score:  Tondu 26 - 10 Taff's Well

The Verdict

Taff’s Well failed to get out of the blocks quick enough which ultimately cost them the game but they did well to come back into the match and dominate the game during the second half. There were strong performances from flanker Rhys Green, second row Tom Robinson and Wing/Fullback Ryan Smith with yet another commanding display by the pack in the scrum. The stand-out performance by popular consensus was from centre Martin Detorres who did his chances of a first team place no harm by being a constant threat with his incisive running capped with a try for his efforts.

Dave Beese  davecbwales@gmail.co.uk

Match Report:   Abercwmboi 1st XV v Taff's Well 1st XV    Sat 22/10/16