Fixture

Wrexham RFC 19 vs Bridgend Sports Club 25

The Sports travelled to Wrexham at the weekend for the 4th round of the Bowl competition, a match that turned out to be a nail-biting display of cracking rugby.
With a strong team and a good bunch of supporters, the Sports expected their opponents to be a quality side. And that is exactly what they found. 

All the early pressure came from the home side and the Sports were denied possession for some time, but defended well. 
When that possession came the Sports were relentless in driving forward and before Wrexham had to concede a penalty, the Sports had gone through 20 odd phases of driving and feeding short ball to their rampant pack. Scott Callicott took that lead with an easy penalty and the home side were happy to settle for just a three point deficit. The same pattern was put in place from the kick off with Andy Gill, Connor Brown and Dewi Rees all making the hard yards and Greg Thomas leading well from the front. The end result of this onslaught was another penalty for Callicott.

Now it was time for Wrexham to show their pace in the threes, as a well worked quick lineout feed saw the backs spin the ball wide to winger Ed Evans to score by rounding the Sports defence with some ease. Fly half Sam Rogers added the extra two points and somewhat against the run of play the home side led 7-6. The Sports best try scoring chance was fluffed when following a chip ahead by Josh Davies, which he gathered and then sent a pass to winger Chris Walker with no one to beat, but he could not control it and the chance went. On the stroke of half time more indiscipline by Wrexham allowed the Sports to take the lead when Callicott slotted over his third penalty ending the half 7-9.

The Sports started the half with a bang and Scott Callicott was again in the action with a fine solo break that was finally stopped on the Wrexham 22 metre line. The move was continued by Lloyd Wilson and fellow back row Andy Gill, before being recycled to the threes with some extra room allowing Callicott to score wide out for a try he could not convert. Score 7-14.

Wrexham were not letting up in their desire to attack although with less possession than the Sports. When they did, a fine running line from the blind side winger Olly Dod saw him carve through the Sports line with relative ease for a try that Sam Rogers converted to level the scores at 14 apiece. Both sides were playing entertaining open rugby which was a credit to them and their respective coaches, and the crowd were all enjoying the very even game. The Sports forward pressure surprised the home side and when the Sports subs came on Wrexham were truly further  surprised at the strength in depth that the squad showed. Matthew Donnelly coming on and making a good impact. The Sports driving game from all their forwards was hard to stop legally and another penalty allowed the Sports to inch ahead to 14-17 when Callicott kicked his fourth penalty.

This wound up the home side into a frenzy of attacking rugby where caution was thrown to the wind and a well crafted second try on the left wing for Ed Evans took Wrexham back into the lead 19 -17. From the kick off the home side fumbled the kick and although only a scrum was awarded, a little bit of back-chat advice to the referee made him change it to a penalty. Callicott and the Sports said ‘thanks’ and re-took the lead at 19-20. A further substitution saw Dai Dent take the field after Andy Gill departed after a great performance. James Donovan sliced through the opposition back row was just stopped a yard short and with almost his first real touch of the game Dent scored the all important try to take the score to 19-25.

The final ten minutes were awesome. Great rugby by both sides and a shame that after such a good match there had to be a loser. This was the best side the Sports have played this season and the best performance by the Sports. And it needed to be. 

Next week look out Glais if this form is continued.