News

02 October 2019 / Team News

Emlyn remain unbeaten

WHITLAND 10 NEWCASTLE EMLYN 31   

This was an excellent display of rugby which ended with a convincing away win at previously unbeaten Whitland. 

The red and whites made their first trip to Whitland in 5 years, looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. This they managed to do quite comfortably with full back Shaun Leonard’s siege gun boot in fine form.

Emlyn got off to a great start when back rower Elliott Rees burst through the home defence, only to be tackled illegally. Leonard stepped up and slotted his first penalty goal from 40 metres. 

Whitland were back on terms within minutes when Emlyn were penalised for a high tackle, and outside half Nico Setaro made no mistake with his kick. 

Even though the home side had a lot of possession the visiting defence were once again outstanding, with impressive tackling from hooker Lee Griffiths and second row Haydn Baldwin, and on a number of occasions forced errors or created turnover opportunities. 

Midway through the half, some great hands through the back line and a neat chip from wing Llyr Freeman was expertly gathered by outside half Sion Edwards to cross under the posts. Leonard converted. 

The flow of the game was thwarted for both sides with a whistle happy referee, blowing up on a number of occasions, rather than let play continue. A further couple of long range penalties from Leonard extended Emlyn's lead. Just before half time, Emlyn flanker Gareth Thompson was sin binned for pulling down a maul. Rather than take the fairly simple penalty kick at goal, Whitland opted for a line out, but the away team's strong defence proved too difficult to overcome and the score remained 3-16 at half time.

The first points of the second half went to the home team when no 8 Scott Buirns charged over from 20 metres. This was following a second yellow card to the red and whites, when second row Osian Davies was harshly penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

At 10-19 this could have proved to be a sticky patch for Emlyn, but there was to be no further points for the homesters. 

The Emlyn pack had been dominant at the scrum throughout the game, and even with a player short, they managed to push their opponents off the ball.

These days it is vital to have a strong bench and with 20 minutes remaining the Emlyn coaches piled on the replacements. A training ground move then saw Freeman dive over in the corner for an unconverted try. With some 10 minutes left, an Emlyn scrum deep in the homesters 22 saw the referee reset the set piece some four times, before firstly penalising Whitland, and finally running beneath the sticks to signal a penalty try.

With time running out, the red & whites mounted one final assault, which saw the ball moved from a quick lineout within their own 22, and moving through a number of hands before reaching no 8 Brynmor Jones in the wing position, where he was bundled into touch some 5 metres short of the whitewash. 

Even though no bonus point was forthcoming, a convincing win was had, and the team move forward to their next encounter against Penclawdd.

 

There doesn't appear to be any tagged photos.

Upload and Tag Photos

Comment
You must be signed in to add comments
Comments
|