News

NEWCASTLE EMLYN 23 BEDLINOG 17

A huge cheer went around Dôl Wiber when the final whistle was blown to signal Emlyn’s first Championship win of the season. This was a thoroughly deserved victory for the red and whites, who have had to experience a traumatic time with injuries. The return of speedy wings Llyr Jones and Dan Davies was tempered by the fact that the forwards still took the field minus club captain Alex Williams and at least five forwards who would normally be in contention for starting places in the Emlyn pack.

However, the side that took the field on a sunny but bitterly cold autumn afternoon did themselves and their coaches proud, and with a little bit more composure the final score could have been greater. Youngsters, hooker Lee Griffiths and second row Steffan Lloyd, had excellent matches, and were to the fore in carrying the ball in attack and when it came to defending, during a torrid second half in which the red and whites spent most of the time on the defensive, as wave after wave of Bedlinog attacks came at them.

Usually on Dôl Wiber any strong wind tends to blow across the pitch, ensuring that neither side can claim to have the advantage of the wind in a particular half. Not so on Saturday, as the promised cold north westerly meant that it was Emlyn who had first use of the strong wind at their backs. Emlyn had to score first to give their much needed confidence a boost, and the first try came after some ten minutes play. The Emlyn forwards basically set up camp in the visitors twenty two metre area and, with scrum half Mike Jones running matters from the base of the ruck, they showed great composure and patience as they went through a series of drives before Jones himself was driven over by promising prop Lewys Jonathan for Emlyn’s first try for three matches.

The story of the half was basically Emlyn using the wind to keep Bedlinog in their own half while the visitors defended stoutly. In fact the next score nearly came to the visitors, as their centre Rhys Davies burst through a very weak tackle on his own twenty two and ran some fifty metres before he was eventually brought down by the Emlyn centres, who also managed to get a penalty from the contact area to enable Emlyn to relieve the pressure. The defensive work of the Emlyn pair of centres, Andrew Owens and Teifion Davies, was first class all afternoon.

Emlyn full back Shaun Leonard then extended the home side’s lead with a well struck penalty on the twenty five minute mark, but the visitors’ defence was proving to be difficult to break down. On the half hour a lovely break by Mike Jones from the half way line saw him link with Leonard, but the full back was unable to get the scoring pass in to winger Llyr Jones and he was eventually brought down some five metres short of the line.

The next score was not long in coming and from a line out the ball was taken on by the pack through a couple of phases. It was then transferred along the line and Leonard entered at pace and put in a grubber kick behind the defenders. The ball went deep into the in-goal area and it was the speedy winger Llyr Jones who won the race for the touchdown for an unconverted try.

Emlyn’s third try came as half time approached and was an absolute gem of a try and encapsulated all that is good about the red and whites play when they are on song. From loose play on the half way line the excellent Owain Powell, captain for the day, broke through Bedlinog’s defence and found Andrew Owens in support. The centre made ground and with the cover coming across at him passed the ball back inside to the supporting Llyr Jones, who had left his wing and wandered into midfield. The speedy Jones accelerated away from would be tacklers to score under the posts for Leonard to convert to give Emlyn a healthy twenty point half time lead.

The question on everyone’s lips at half time was whether or not twenty points would be sufficient bearing in mind the strength of the wind and quality of the opposition. From the kick off Emlyn could have put the game out of Bedlinog’s reach with what would have been a length of the field try. Skipper Powell caught the restart deep in his twenty two and passed back to Leonard expecting him to kick to touch. Leonard had other ideas and, seeing that Bedlinog had come up in a line, he cleverly chipped over the advancing players and the ball bounced up into his hands. Unfortunately he did not realise that he had both Emlyn centres and Llyr Jones outside him and Mike Jones on his inside with only the Bedlinog full back and winger ahead of them. He put in a second long kick downfield which they were able to field and clear to touch.

It was now Emlyn’s turn to defend as Bedlinog used the wind to pin the red and whites back. The work of the Emlyn tight five in defence was to be commended as the heavier visitors pack were unable to dominate at either scrum or lineout, as Bleddyn and Emrys Davies alongside Jonathan, Griffiths and Lloyd worked tirelessly to halt drives from rucks and mauls. When Bedlinog did move the ball wider they found the Emlyn back row of Powell, number eight Gareth Thomson, and Osian Davies, excellent scavengers for the loose ball at the tackle. When Powell was replaced with some fifteen minutes to go his replacement Jon Hill was equally effective at turning the ball over at the tackle area. The battle for the ball at the tackle area was nothing if not ferocious and referee Richard Brace had a difficult task all second half trying to decide how much time he would allow either side to hold on to the ball, before penalising the tackled player for not releasing the ball.

Bedlinog opened their account after some ten minutes play, when their winger Daniel Davies spotted an Emlyn defender had dropped out of the defensive line to go behind his backs, and he sold an outrageous dummy to stroll through a huge gap to score under the posts. Fortunately for the home side the conversion struck an upright and bounced back into play.

Some sterling work by the Emlyn defence meant that the visitors had a long wait before their next score. To their credit the whole of the Emlyn side tackled like dervishes, outside half Sion Edwards marshalled his players well, and with wingers Dan Davies and Llyr Jones doing a great deal of work covering behind the Emlyn defensive line, any breach and potential danger was quickly snuffed out.

Bedlinog’s second try, when it came on the half hour mark, was nothing if not disappointing in that came as a result of another lapse in concentration by a home defender. A series of rucks by them in the home twenty two looked to be fairly well contained by the home defence. Then lively Bedlinog hooker Ieuan Morris sold a dummy, which an Emlyn defender bought, and he crossed for their second unconverted try without a hand being laid on him.

Emlyn’s poor start to the season now started to manifest itself in a lack of confidence amongst the side in their ability to win a game. Bedlinog sensed this and kicked long down field, instead of letting the ball cross the line and minor it for a twenty two drop out, an Emlyn player attempted to catch the ball above his head. The ball still went over the line, had to be minored by a defender leading to a scrum five metres out for Bedlinog.  Their scrum drive was halted, but they went through a series of rucks before second row Darryl Rooney crossed for a try this time converted by Daniel Davies to bring them within three points of the home side.

Fortunately for Emlyn, from the restart Bedlinog elected to run the ball back at Emlyn and were tackled on their twenty two line. Emlyn were awarded a penalty at the ruck and Leonard stepped up to convert the kick and extend Emlyn’s lead to six points. With time running out it was a very relieved Emlyn side who were awarded a penalty from the restart which they kicked to touch to bring the game to an exciting conclusion.

As well as the long awaited first victory, the other pleasing aspect of this game was that Emlyn did not look as if they picked up any injuries. With prop Ifan James returning from his broken leg, flanker Jon Hill fully recovered from his knee injury, and Brynmor Jones returned from holiday, now all available for selection Emlyn’s squad is starting to look a lot stronger. One can only hope that this victory will signal the turning point in Emlyn’s season, although they do face the daunting prospect of a trip to Tata Steel next week followed by Pontypool at Dôl Wiber the week after.