RGC 1404 U16’s 28 – 7 Llanelli Scarlets U16’s
Sunday 7th February 2010 at Colwyn Bay RFC - Kick-off 2.30pm
It was a cold and crisp afternoon at Colwyn Bay, as the young Gogs sought payback for the season-opening 34-0 drubbing handed out by the young Scarlets at Llandovery.
With both sides losing players to the Wales U16’s training squad, it was always going to be a more edgy affair than the first fixture, but RGC settled immediately into the task the coaches had set them and piled the pressure on for the opening minutes. It soon paid dividends as an easy 3rd minute penalty was converted by Dion Jones (Nant Conwy). Then from the restart, the Gogs defended well and gradually built the pressure again, finishing with a finely worked 10th minute Llion Evans (Llandudno) score, which handed an easy conversion to Jones to make the score 10-0.
Again the gogs had to defend well from the restart but some excellent play soon handed Jason Blackmore (Rhyl) a chance and he fought his way through to put in the Gogs second Try of the afternoon, which Jones duly converted to open up a 17 point lead. Almost immediately from a bad Scarlets restart, RGC surged forward again, this time settling for a penalty which that man Jones sent straight down the middle for a superb 20-0 lead with just 19 minutes played.
Again the Scarlets rallied and again the young Gogs stood their ground and made their tackles. However some minor indiscipline crept into the RGC breakdown play and after a hard passage of play, which saw several hard knocks and a Scarlets Prop taken off to get stitches above his eye, the young Scarlets found themselves with a chance of their own and their full back ran through a scattered Gog defence to score near enough to the posts to give their Fly Half a simple conversion for 20-7.
RGC lost Aaron Gwyn (Caernarfon) to the sin-bin just as the half ended, but no more points were added and an excellent half finished 20-7.
With fourteen men for the opening 8 minutes of the second half, the Gogs entertained with good aggressive rugby and a stalwart defence that left a far more lively Scarlets pack reeling as they put all their efforts into clawing back the deficit, but when the fifteenth man returned, there had been no change in the score, and RGC resumed the pressure build-up in search of more points.
Both sides began to ring in the changes and the pace of the match quickened as a 10 minute period of end-to-end rugby ensued. But it was not until the 55th minute that RGC won a penalty and chose to kick for points. Jones stepped up once again and sent yet another pin-point kick through the centre of the uprights to make it 23-7.
The restart was aggressive from the Scarlets and only through their own indiscipline did the attack fail. RGC quickly took advantage, building up a dominating attack. A flurry of attacks on the Scarlets Try-line eventually saw Dion Jones gain further reward for his hard days’ work as he crossed to score a 57th minute Try in the corner for 28-7. The conversion scrapped agonisingly wide but surely now the job was done.
The last 10 minutes saw the determination of both sides pressed to the limit, as RGC pressed for the bonus-point Try and Scarlets fought for anything they could get, but legs were getting heavy and tired and the sting gradually left the game, making a scrappy final few minutes. As the referee blew the final whistle, with the Gogs camped once again on the Scarlets line, the disappointment of not getting the fourth Try was wiped out by the elation of the convincing win.
Thank you to both the Gogledd boys and the Scarlets boys. This was an excellent match and both sets of players and coaches deserve all the credit. Additional thanks to Colwyn Bay RFC, who went out of their way to help us make this rearranged fixture happen. It would not have been possible without the club and their excellent staff and facilities.
This result sees RGC1404 U16’s finish a quite brilliant fourth in the Regional Age Grade Championship table, ahead of Cardiff Blues North and Newport Gwent Dragons, as well as being the only side to register a win against the table-topping Scarlets side in this campaign. A fitting reward for the immense efforts the players and coaches have put in all season.
Marc Roberts Regional Performance manager from North Wales said,
" I am really pleased for all the players, coaches and management of this squad as all have worked hard and made gradual yet constant improvements with each game throughout the tournament. Having said that, the squad are clear that we still have a huge amount of work to do especially with regard to or strength and conditioning, if we are to be as competitive in next years U18s competition"
Bryden Lloyd
RGC1404 U16’s Manager
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