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13 November 2018 / Club News

Bridgend Athletic RFC Mini & Junior Round Up – Sunday Nov 11th, 2018

 

Bridgend Athletic Under 7’s welcomed Llantrisant to Newbridge Fields. Despite inclement weather the Ath had a squad of 18 players turn up. In true minis spirit no scores were kept with rugby being the only winner. Some fantastic tries were scored by both sets of teams, the Ath players showing real quality with ball in hand. Well done to Callum Brown & Zavier Gardener who were this week’s top taggers. Next up for the U7s is a trip to Bargoed Sunday 18th Nov.

 

As did some other age groups in Bridgend Athletic mini and junior section, the U8’s welcomed Llantrisant RFC to Newbridge fields on Sunday 11th November.

Before any rugby got underway both teams’ players, their coaches and supporters held a minute silence for Remembrance Day which was upheld with the utmost respect.

Regardless of the adverse weather conditions on the build-up to and early hours of Sunday, the home side saw their squad attendance of 21 players significantly outnumbering the travelling squad of 7 players. To avoid standing around between games, the Ath’ were split into 3 teams, each taking it in turns to play the visitors while the other 2 played a training match against each other on an adjacent pitch.

 

Despite it being tag rugby, it’s inevitable for there to be a degree of contact and at times the direct running of the visitors led to some heavy collisions. In true Ath’ spirit the boys, as always, showed real grit and determination, immediately dusting themselves off and re-joining the action.

 

With the visitors only managing to field 1 team and playing back to back matches with very little rest in between, fatigue should have been a factor favouring the Ath’. In credit to the visitors however, they stuck at the job in hand and the Ath’ failed to exploit what should have been an advantage for them.

 

In total 4 matches were played, with the Ath’ losing 2, drawing 1 and winning 1, along the way scoring a total of 21 tries and accumulating 71 tags.

 

Although the overall result went against the home side, there were a lot of positives to be taken away from their morning’s work. Their play is becoming less one dimensional and increasingly, the Ath’ players are offloading the ball before being tagged. They are also starting to work scissor moves in offensive positions, wrong-footing the defence and opening-up gaps. Some superb tries were scored on the day as a direct result of these improving aspects of the Aths’ play.

 

Bridgend Athletic Under 9s also welcomed Llantrisant to Newbridge Fields, boasting a squad of 21 players on the day despite the poor weather. The Athletic coaches were really pleased with the players defensive determination with so many players stepping up, and with their efforts at trying to play more as a team looking to keep the ball moving. Bridgend Athletic were too strong for Llantrisant running out 60-5 winners over two 20-minute matches. Try scorers were Mason Brown 3, Ashton Davies 3, Ethan Davies 2, Osian Kenny, Rhys Cawley, Rhys Gardiner & Zack Hughes. Next up for the under 9s is a trip to Bargoed.

 

Bridgend Ath Under 16’s welcomed Tonmawr to Bridgend for an Ospreys Cup pool match. Tonmawr having won the previous two encounters between the teams were probably confident of inflicting a third successive victory over the Ath.

 

However, from the start, ‘Big John’ acrobatically took the kick off and the team drove strongly forward, with the Ath winning the ruck and outside half Euan Rees putting in a long kick, driving Tonmawr deep into their own territory.

 

The Ath continued to pile on the pressure and some strong driving from the forwards saw No 8 Michael Gillette drive over from close range, Euan Rees converting.

Further pressure saw a great break from Ryan Neagle to feed Michael Gillette who cut through a gap between two players and sprinted over from 30 metres to score wide out, Euan Rees narrowly missing the conversion.

 

Tonmawr then hit back with a good try of their own from a set scrum near the Ath line, which their scrum half converted.

 

The Ath responded with the best try of the match. Some great inter passing between backs and forwards saw the ball reach prop ‘Big John’ wide out. John then shrugged off a defender before racing away from 40 metres to score near the Tonmawr posts, Euan Rees again converting.

 

Just before half time, a quick move by Tonmawr saw their left-wing race over in the corner to leave the Athletic 19-12 ahead at the break.

 

The second half was a very close affair with Tonmawr enjoying a moderately strong wind behind them. Passive scrums were also introduced as Tonmawr didn’t have replacement props.

 

A scrum near the Tonmawr line saw Michael Gillette pick up and smash through the defence to score under the posts, again converted by outside half Euan Rees. Tonmawr then utilised the wind to gain territory and charged down an attempted clearance kick saw to score wide out.

The remainder of the game saw the Ath on top and Gillette, Ryan Neagle and Tom Florence go close to scoring. The Athletic defence was also immense preventing Tonmawr adding any further points.

 

The Ath team and coaches were delighted to record a great 26-17 victory against a very capable Tonmawr team and give them a good opportunity to progress from the Pool stages of the tournament.

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