WRU Division 3 East

GWERNYFED 38 MACHEN 14

Gwernyfed welcomed 2026 with their 30^th league win on the trot, their last taste of league defeat back in the 2023/4 season. However, while the result was never in doubt, the green, white and blacks took their foot off the pedal in a second half that saw the visitors from Caerphilly outscore the home side by two tries to one.

The early minutes saw Gwernyfed on the attack, various sorties involving skipper Joe Winfield, centres Gethin and Ryan Davies and lock Geraint Powell rebuffed by Machen. When the siege was finally lifted after ten minutes with a long clearance to touch, the line-out on Gwernyfed’s ten metre line only served to offer the green, white and blacks an opportunity to stretch the defence from depth. Winfield and Lloydd Powell conspired to suck in the visiting forwards after which Luke Eckley passed inside to Geraint Powell. He had speedster Ryan Davies coming in on the blind side, Davies splintering the defence and running in untouched from fifty metres, the skipper adding the conversion.

Once the dam had been breached scores came with regularity. From the restart full back Tyler Morris fielded the ball and hoisted a kick well into the Machen half. Morris’s opposite number attempted to mirror the clearance but only succeeded in placing the ball into Joe Winfield’s arms. The fly half drew the defence before releasing Gethin Davies down the left-hand touch line. The giant Hay man made no mistake.

Machen enjoyed a few minutes’ respite with play concentrated in midfield until a series of onslaughts led by Ryan Davies and Calum Fergusson were resisted only by slowing the ball in the ruck. The resultant penalty saw Will Eckley feint to charge forward, but then allowing brother Luke to pick up, spread wide to Geraint Powell and watch Gethin Davies charge under the posts from fifteen metres, taking several defenders on the journey. Winfield pocketed another two points.

Yet again the restart yielded a try. Tom Lloyd fielded and set up a ruck which saw Winfield chip over the advancing defence. Flanker and vice-captain Will Eckley collected and went on one of his trademark runs. When stopped after forty metres, brother Luke was on hand to pass to Tyler Morris who spotted Gethin Davies out wide. The pass was accurate and the rest was inevitable, Davies trampling the cover defence and selflessly spurning a hat trick by passing to Geraint Powell so that the rangy lock could make Winfield’s task a formality.

With the try bonus in the bag, as half-time approached Gwernyfed produced a master class of a try. From a scrum 35 metres out, Luke Eckley fed Winfield, Gethin Davies then sensed full back Morris cruising into the line to pass and draw defenders before releasing an impeccable pass to right wing Calum Fergusson whose run in for the fifth try and a 31-point lead at the break was a formality.

The sizeable home crowd is used to the green, white and blacks using their fitness and speed to draw away as the game progresses. That was how it looked when, five minutes into the second period, charges by Prys Eckley, Sam Clegg and Lloydd Powell sucked in the defence to the extent that when Luke Eckley collected, he had Ryan Davies on his shoulder with only two men to beat from ten metres, seven points the inevitable outcome.

It looked very much as if the floodgates were about to open, but, whether through rustiness or the thought that the game was in the bag, Gwernyfed rather misfired. There were plenty of chances, some frustrated by dogged defence, some spurned by a preference for the kick when ball in hand has proved to be lethal in the side’s long run of success. Whatever the cause, it was Machen who made the better of scoring opportunity in the second half with two converted tries which were just reward for a spirited effort by a side involved in the relegation battle.

Training has been constrained by Christmas and weather and Lee Thomas and his coaching team will be hoping for opportunities in midweek to iron out a couple of wrinkles as the Talgarth men look forward to next weekend’s visit to RTB Ebbw Vale, a side that always offers a stiff challenge. However, notwithstanding a stuttering last thirty minutes, Gwernyfed stand clear at the top of the table and will look to cement that position in the games before the hiatus caused by Six Nations rugby.