We welcomed Bryncethin to Gowerton for the first time and the boys were looking forward to playing for the first time in 3 weeks. Both teams started well and the ball was passed along the line numerous times in an attempt to run the ball. Sadly outside half Louis Davies injured his knee early on and had to go off, hopefully to return at some stage. We managed the first score of the game on 11 minutes when Tom 'Llew' Davies crashed over from a maul on their line and Brandon Jones converted in front of the posts. The score seemed to give the boys a boost and we threatened again and eventually got the ball wide for Ieuan Sleeman to out pace his opposite number and score near the corner flag after 15 minutes. Brandon Jones once again converted, although this one was far more difficult than the first. We continued to try the expansive game and it nearly came back to bite us as we passed the ball along the line deep into their 22 only for the final pass to be intercepted by their winger who had an open field and about 80yds to score. With all our backs up in the line it looked certain for him to score but the determination of Matthew Davies who managed to bring him down a few yards short and a few other backs helped keep the opposition out. However this was only a temporary reprieve as a few minutes later Bryncethin had a scrum deep in our 22 and the ball got the their outside half who sold a dummy and breezed through between two players to score under the posts and the try was converted on the halftime whistle. Half time score 14-7
Louis Davies had recovered from his injury to resume the No.10 position and the second half was played out in similar fashion to the first with both teams looking to attack and both defences holding out strong. It took us 22 minutes before we managed to get our third try of the game when Troy Davies picked up from a maul just outside their 22 and run diagonally across the pitch but broke a few tackles to crash over near the corner. Louis Davies converted from far out to make it 21-7. With what turned out to be the last play of the game, Brandon Jones made one of his barnstorming runs, pushing defenders out of his way to dive in under the posts to seal a fantasic personal performance from the scrum half, showing everyone the ability he showed us last season before his knee injury. Louis Davies kicked the conversion to make the final score Gowerton 28 Bryncethin 7.
Praise was given to the opposition as they never gave up and had a number of talented players who caused us problems throughout the game. That said, Gowerton looked more like the Gowerton of old when the feared nobody and tackled everything in front of them. A great start to 2017 and hopefully a start of a run of good , positive results over the coming months.
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