Gallant Wanderers overpowered by Bargoed

Bargoed 54

Wanderers 21

“All credit to Mark and Andrew who worked so hard to ensure we had a side. They may only have been 18 of them but they acquitted themselves superbly and gave Bargoed a run for their money” committed newly appointed chairman Brian Patterson.

“The eventful bus ride stuck in the narrow streets of Bargoed certainly helped” commented coach Andrew Roberts “It gave me time to introduce the players to each other!”

On a lovely sunny afternoon the Wanderers shocked the home side by creating an early try. Off the top ball from a lineout was moved wide to new player Will Adams Jones. The ball was recycled quickly and Gruff Tough broke down the blindside. He fed Morgan Williams who cantered away to score the first try of the game. Tough converted 0-7. Bargoed were probably expecting an end of season romp in the sun considering they are a promotion chasing side and their early play was a little lack lustre. Slowly but surely they got into their stride and they were soon on level terms with their first try 7-7. That was followed by a second try out wide nudging them ahead 14-7. The Wanderers despite the new faces were not going to roll over and they were happy to try to play whenever they had the opportunity. Another Tough snipe deep in Wanderers territory put Tom Jeans away. He raced clear down field. Bargoed scrambled back and hauled him down on their 22 but conceded a penalty. Tough took it quickly and found Finn Davies who raced away to score. Midway through the half and much to the shock of the travelling Massiv, who had made it up the hill from the club, it was all square 14-14. The slight end of season feeling continued with tackling an option not always employed by both sides. Bargoed edged ahead again with their third try 21-14 and the visitors task was made all the more difficult when Huw Thomas was sent to the touchline for 10 minutes. Despite that the Wanderers continued to be a threat with ball in hand Jack Beynon and Tom Weekley certainly causing a few problems for the home side and Davies was prominent in attack. The half ended with the visitors back on the attack and pressurising the home side who when they retrieved the ball were happy to send it to touch to end the half with the narrow lead 21-14.

Bargoed probably had a little talking to in the changing rooms at half time and they immediately made a couple of substitutions. The changes provided dividend straight away and regaining possession from the kick off they extended the lead to 26-14. From then on it was clearly going to be a struggle for the visitors as legs tired in the sun against a now more efficient and clinical home side. The points gap was momentarily reduced when turnover ball in their own 22 was dropped by the home side and Williams responded first. He gathered the ball and forced his way over for the Wanderers third try 26-21. Some stern words behind the posts were needed to shake Bargoed form any complacency and they tightened up for the last quarter.  Soon extending their lead with some neat tries involving handling from both forwards and backs they added their fourth and fifth tries 40-21 putting the game out of sight. The Wanderers battled hard to gain a bonus point try of their own as time started to run out but the dominance of the home side was now complete and they added 2 more tries to take the score beyond 50 points. All in all, a thoroughly entertaining game with both sides providing some excellent rugby. A deserved win for Bargoed but the Barbarians of Ely left the ground with plenty of credit. Final score 54-21.

Wanderer’s scorers

Tries: Morgan Williams (2), Finn Davies

Cons: Gruff Tough (3)

Management Man of the match: Gruff Tough
Massiv Man of the Match: Finn Davies

Pics: https://flic.kr/ps/c7gzd