WRU Division 3 East

CHEPSTOW 28 GWERNYFED 33   

Both Gwernyfed’s senior men’s sides set out for a day on the banks of the Severn. Both sides recording a win against their counterparts at Chepstow. The Athletic’s 31-7 victory pushed Jamie Coles’s side closer to the Dragons League leaders while skipper for the day Will Eckley delivered a win that extends the green, white and black First XV’s unbeaten league record to twenty-one games.

Gwernyfed last visited Chepstow nineteen years ago when James Evans, now local Senedd Member and Vice Chairman and Team Manager at Gwernyfed, was one of the scorers. It was windy then and things haven’t changed. However, wind and rain failed to daunt the Talgarth men who scored five tries in what, in all but the scoreline, was a dominant performance.

With the benefit of the wind from down the Estuary, Gwernyfed tore into Chepstow’s defence for fully eight minutes before breaking a stout-hearted rearguard action. The busiest man on the park was Gwernyfed scrum half Tom Griffiths who attended ruck after ruck, delivering ball open to fly half Tyler Morris and to the blind where Gethin Davies was a constant threat. When the try eventually came, Davies was at the root of it, making good yards and drawing the defence before releasing right wing Calum Fergusson. The youngster had plenty to do but danced down the touchline, beating three defenders before plunging into the corner.

Until the score Chepstow had not ventured from their own half and while that run was ended from the restart, the next ten minutes saw the two sides test each other out in midfield. However, the hosts’ are third in the league and second only to Gwernyfed in the ‘tries scored’ column, a fact emphasised when the back row picked up from a retreating maul to sneak around the blindside to level the score.

Gwernyfed returned the compliment when, after Geraint Powell and Will Eckley made inroads, from the ruck Griffiths found Kyle Davies coming in at pace, the number eight crashing through for an excellent try. Tyler Morris converted from out wide, his place-kicking a feature of the day and, statistically speaking at least, the difference between the sides.

Chepstow were nothing if not dogged and by half-time had added a try and penalty to sneak into a one-point lead and threaten to wrest Gwernyfed’s 100% record away. Eckley and his men had other ideas.

Ten minutes into the second period a long kick by Morris forced errors resulting in scrums near the home side’s line. With scrum half Griffiths moving to the wing to replace I injured Jack Williams, Luke Eckley came on at nine, immediately feeding Morris whose pass to Gethin Davies had try written all over it. Chepstow’s cover defence, impressive throughout, thwarted the Hay man but he popped the ball back to Morris, full back Will Lloyd the next in line, scoring with aplomb. Morris converted from wide out.

Having recovered the lead, Gwernyfed were in no mood to relinquish it and returned to the attack from the kick off. A siege ensued with runs from the big men, Lloydd and Geraint Powell, Cellan Skyrme and Will Eckley prominent, being met with some magnificent defence. In fact the nearest to the line was Luke Eckley and while his first effort was held up just short, when collecting from a ruck five metres in front of the post, the man from Glasbury sniped in true scrum half style to allow Morris a simple conversion for once.

The home side reduced the arrears with a try from a series of forward drives when Gwernyfed were penalised from the restart, but that score was neutralised and more when, with ten minutes to go, prop Cellan Skyrme took four defenders over with him after charges by Lloydd Powell and Craig Parry had been stopped short. Once again Morris confounded the elements with a conversion from the touchline to open up a fifteen-point lead.

Gwernyfed will be disappointed to have conceded two tries in the final minutes, though by then the result was not in doubt and Eckley’s men could follow the Athletic XV into the changing rooms in the knowledge that the trip back to Talgarth would be an enjoyable one.

Next week Gwernyfed take on both Garndiffaith First XV and their Athletic side,’The Gorillas’, at The Brian Jones Memorial Field in Talgarth. The coaching team will be working hard in the hope of continuing the winning run enjoyed by both green, white and black sides.