Wanderers bow out of Plate
WANDERERS 19
BRYNMAWR 35
Wanderers bow out of Plate
“Without a platform to play off we were always going to be struggling” commented coach Lee Highgate “No complaints the best side won and they’ll be tough to beat in this competition. Our discipline and accuracy were poor and the result was costly”
Despite the poor forecast and heavy rain the players were met with some sunshine as they ran out on a surprisingly firmer surface than most imagined. From the outset the home side came under pressure as the first scrum resulted in a Brynmawr penalty which gave them good field position. From the ensuing lineout the Pirates went several phases and eventually the Wanderers ran out of defenders as they opened the score 0-5. The early exchanges were all in favour of the visitors as they continued to dominate proceedings leaving the home side to feed off scraps of possession. The penalty count rose against the home side and two penalties put Brynmawr further ahead at 0-11 before the Wanderers showed any attacking intent at all. Moving the ball from deep young centres Cameron Gibbon and Josh Male made good ground in a move of several phases only for the home side to be denied deep in the visitors 22. Brynmawr kept up relentless pressure on the home side set piece and frustration boiled over at a ruck and captain Joe Russell was sin binned for 10 minutes. The cause was further frustrated when Max Wootten joined Joe in the bin and the Pirates took full advantage. From a back peddling scrum the Wanderers had no fringe defence and Brynmawr scored their second try of the game to make the score 0-16 with time in the first half running out. Finally the Wanderers woke up and with rare ball from a scrum Luke Fish set his backs away. A half break and good support put Male away and he raced in to open the scoring. Fish converted and the sides went into the break with the Wanderers Massiv feeling that at 7-16 we were lucky not to be further behind!
Any sort of a revival was soon put to bed at the start of the second half as another lost lineout set Brynmawr away. Again, an attack of several phases resulted in a third try and the game was effectively over at 7-21. The Wanderers sent for all the cavalry, but the Pirates continued to dominate proceedings. With an ineffective lineout and scrum there was no way back for the home side and attacks became more and more frantic. With their scrum on top there was no surprise when a 5-metre scrum resulted in a penalty try for the visitors and before long a fifth try followed to finally nail the coffin shut at 7-35. Despite the inevitable result the Wanderers continued to battle and when given the ball they were able to make inroads out wide. Rob Weston drove over for a second home side try and with the line beckoning after another move of several phases, a penalty try for a deliberate knock on, gave the score a little more respectability at 19-35 but the result was long gone and the Wanderers faithful took to the bar for a long night (hence the lateness of this report) to drown our sorrows before we go again on Wednesday in a silver ball ¼ final against Porthcawl. Final score 19-35.
Wanderers scorers:
Tries: Josh Male, Penalty try, Rob Weston
Cons: Luke Fish
Massiv man of the match: AARON FOWLER