Match Reports 2009/10
Rumney (25) Tredegar (47)
April 10th, 2010
Rumney v Tredegar Tries can be seen here.
Tredegar put a smile on the faces of their loyal band of supporters when they put their relegation worries firmly behind them with a scintillating six try win away at the riverside ground in Rumney Cardiff. With a bonus point victory Tredegar leap-frogged Merthyr in the league and relish next weeks return encounter with Rumney at the Recreation Ground. With Tredegar enjoying territorial advantage both Wes Cunliffe and Daffyd James missed early try scoring chances only to see Rumney run up a ten point lead with a converted try and penalty.
With Rumney under the cosh, Darren Pearce kicked three penalties racking up nine points in as many minutes to keep the visitors in the game.Props Brendan Sullivan & Nicky Gould never took a backwards step and an outrageous dummy from Gould on the charge should have resulted in a score that would have nudged the visitors in front only for a desperate cover tackle to deny the visitors the lead. Tredegar's indiscretions saw promising lock Kristian Smith spend ten minutes in the bin allowing Rumney to score two tries whilst the men in red were depleted.
Although Tredegar were playing catch up rugby the half time team talk instilled discipline in the side and when substitutes Jordan Williams, Daniel Horsman and Craig Lloyd entered the battlefield Tredegar transformed themselves and played scintillating rugby that even left the home supporters gasping for breath. Scrum half Matt Taylor bossed the base of the scrum and demonstrated how he had been missed during the first half of this season's campaign.
With in seconds of getting on the field, Craig Lloyd with his first touch of the ball burst through the centre on the half way line and handing off would be tacklers started the fight back. Pearce's conversion saw the visitors start to make inroads into Rumney's lead. With their tails up Tredegar threw caution to the wind and two fine long range tries started in their own half were finished off by full back Luke James who ripped the heart out of the home defence and Pearce's fine strike of the ball saw Tredegar extend their lead by five points, whilst Rumney could only offer a solitary penalty in response. Playing with added confidence Tredegar dominated proceedings and Rumney had no answer to the speed of the Tredegar backs and the slick handling skills shown by the visitors.
Jack Dawson capped a fine display when he powered over for a try and following some great interpassing , Wes Cunliffe put Dave Ford over in the corner, getting that vital bonus point. Matthew Jolly's try in the dying minutes turned the screw even further and Pearce's conversion saw Tredegar put on their best display of the season and certainly eased their relegation worries.
With three home games left Tredegar will look to consolidate their position in Division 1 and on this performance will certainly be a different side that started the season and will be very difficult to beat