Fixture

After the disappointment of the postponed cup clash against Treharris, all eyes turned south for the short trip to Hailey Park with Llandaff North the hosts. Previous games have provided entertaining fare with Taff’s Well taking the honours in the first game of the season with a hard-fought 34-17 win after the visitors had led by 17-3.

Sticky Wicket

Both sides were to find the ground underfoot troublesome with several losing their footing throughout, but aside from the going being soft, the game had a scrappy edge to it (quite literally sometimes) as Llandaff made the early running with an opening five minute period in which they pressed without really testing the visitor's line. With the back row prominent in repelling any threat, Llandaff were to earn two 40m penalties attempts at goal for their endeavour but were unable to capitalise on referee Mark Evans’ invitation.

Costly Misses

The misses were to prove costly as Taff’s Well started to gain ground for Captain Lewis Edwards to bust the home defence to ship to No. 8 Max Watkins who brought centre Justin Jones into the game who eventually went to ground to earn a penalty. After setting up a lineout 10m out, the forwards executed a perfect catch and drive for Watkins to plough over for the game’s opening try with the conversion going wide.

Stop and Start

The crowd were baying for the ball to go wide but a mixture of soft footing and lack of execution meant that the game was playing out in the middle of the park as both sides struggled to get a cohesive game plan together but the large Taff’s Well travelling support didn’t have to wait too long for the scoreboard to tick over as after sustained pressure to the Llandaff line, Watkins was able to pick up and drive over from a dominant Taff’s Well scrum which drove to the home line from 5m out. No conversion but a promising 10-0 lead.

Lack of Concentration

With minds seemingly elsewhere from the restart, Llandaff pressed into the visitor’s 22m only for a forward pass to halt the attack but the resultant Taff’s Well defensive scrum found itself under tremendous pressure as the ball squirted behind for fullback Chris Tottle to save the day with a fine clearance kick. Back came Taff’s Well into the Llandaff 20m to drive over from a 10m lineout but the ball was deemed to have been held up and a half which was made up of an aggressive contribution by both sides but lacking in silk dressing – came to an end.

Half-Time Score:  Llandaff North 1^st XV 0 – 10 Taff’s Well 1^st XV

Second Half

From the kick-off, it was probably starting to dawn on Llandaff that this wasn’t going to be their day as the ball was knocked on. From the ensuing scrum, the Taff’s Well backline went through a serious of training ground miss-moves to tee-up right wing Ronan Barratt who took the ball at pace to round the defence and touch down in the corner for a fine effort which was converted by outside-half Brandon Thrasher. Sadly, this bit of magic didn’t light the fuse to the much as the game entered another phase of stalemate with both sides giving everything but finding it difficult to get sustained territory. The Taff’s Well set-pieces were putting Llandaff under all sort of pressure which meant that in the second half, the visitors were to steal the throw-in from three attacking Llandaff 5m line-outs but the tendency to play rugby perhaps in the wrong areas lead to a series of knock-ons, turnovers and conceded penalties.

Breaking the Shackles

As the game wore on, the Taff’s Well eight were starting to exert a grip on the game with flankers Edwards and Conor Barratt playing their part as the latter latched onto a wayward Llandaff throw-in to brush off would-be tacklers and break 40m upfield to feed second-row Ethan Prescott on the charge; lacking support, the ball was lost for Llandaff to break from their line but a superb tackle by substitute winger Tom Cattle halted the riposte at source to earn an attacking 5m scrum. With the Taff’s eight on the front foot, the ball was whipped smartly across the backline for full-back Tottle to scythe over – Thrasher adding the necessaries for a 24- 0 lead.

Playing for Kicks

A telling feature of the game was the ability of Taff’s Well to clear their lines with some excellent kicks when it mattered which on many occasions turned defence into attack and the frustration from Llandaff was plain to see as visiting No.8 Max Watkins fell victim to a vicious kick to the back which was surprisingly only penalised with a yellow. A more pleasing sight was the re-emergence from injury of hooker Bradley James and long-term absentee flanker Rhys Green who immediately made their presences felt with some superb tackles.

Finishing with a Flourish

From here on in, it was Taff’s Well who were to turn up the heat as left wing Jack Shaddick intercepted to sprint to the line to increase his ever-growing try tally and scrum-half Gwilym Edwards took advantage of a 40m attacking scrum to pick up from the base and outflank the cover defence for an impressive solo effort – both converted by Thrasher to give a 38-0 lead with 5 minutes remaining. Taff’s Well were now in full command over a tiring Llandaff side who had battled gamely throughout with No. 8 James Wilson having an outstanding game, often playing from the back foot.

Turning Defence into Attack

Llandaff had managed to fashion scoring opportunities during the game but had failed to take them, thanks mainly to a sound Taff’s Well defence, but they were forced to chase the scoreboard from the off and when they failed to make the most of their opportunities, they were often made to pay as was typified by an attack which floundered for the ball be punted downfield and subsequently fly-hacked through for centre Ryan Smith to gather and dive over.

Leaving the Best for Last

With substitute centre Matthew Wright in the mix and back at his old stamping ground, the clock was now ticking and Llandaff were giving it one last go but the ball was turned over in the Taff’s Well 20m zone to be passed through several pairs of hands as the retreating cover struggled to fill the gaps. Wth the ball beating the man at every turn, full-back Tottle was able to take the final pass at speed and sear away for a superb team try that sealed a very comfortable 48-0 victory.

Final Score: Llandaff 1^st XV 0 – 48 Taff’s Well 1st XV

The Verdict

This result was an impressive one without Taff’s Well having to show all their cards before the impending cup game against Treharris next week. The team are on a roll after a string of impressive performances but complacency must not be allowed to set in. The set-pieces were dominant throughout and the pack put in another sustained performance finishing the stronger making it difficult to name standouts as there wasn’t anyone who didn’t rise to the challenge. The front row of Lloyd James, Matthew Desmier and Ben Atkin laid the platform, the second-row engine room of Ethan Prescott and Jon Barry delivered which meant that the back row of Conor Barratt, Max Watkins and Captain Lewis  Edwards could go about their business knowing the basics were covered.

The Small Bits

How can you have niggly bits after a 48-0 win? Well, in truth, an eight-try bonus point win means job done but it doesn’t mean there’s more to come from this essentially young team. Quite a few penalties to touch were missed and we still suffer from players out of position holding up the ball going wide when it needs to be in the hands of the decision makers and we gave a few penalties away at the breakdown as a result of lack of numbers and not clearing out. Apart from that, it’s five points in the bag and a result anyone would have taken at the start of the day so well done to Axel, Rhys and the squad. It took a while before the backs started to click but when they did, they produced some great tries through great handling and sheer pace and we’ll be hoping for more of the same for next week.

The View from the Opposition

Although the score was a big one, it doesn’t really reflect the effort put in by a very committed Llandaff side who tired in the second half and simply failed to make the most of their opportunities. No.8 James Wilson was the standout with a wholly committed display together with outside-half Owain Thomas and flanker Dominic Scoble who also showed up well. “We had to chase the game from the off which meant we had to take chances that were punished by Taff’s Well from deep on several occasions, it meant we could never really get into the game and make an impression”. Dai Smith - Llandaff North Coach

MOTM

A great effort from everybody who took the field and the bench is starting to look stronger with players emerging from injury. The backs looked sharp in patches and defended well again with centre Justin Jones Jones running directly to tidy up a lot of ball but it was the forwards who took the honours as they once again played a committed 80-minute game. Perhaps it’s fitting that the Man-of-the-Match awards should go to a front rower in the shape of prop Lloyd James who typified the effort of a pack which continues to improve as the season goes on.

PS Linesman of the match has to go to Martin ‘Curly’ Forward who without prompting (a club first?), offered to run the line whilst pretending to know the rules – first-rate effort Curly, the club salutes you.

Coming up…

Next week’s game is the re-arranged WRU Bowl – 4^TH Round fixture away to Treharris so let’s make it a party atmosphere and get there in numbers. Don’t forget that KO is 2.00pm and there’s room on the player’s bus for those who make bookings with Hywel through Facebook.

Dave Beese   davecbwales@gmail.com