Wanderers dig deep to deny Zebras

Wanderers 29
Treorchy 24

“We make life difficult for ourselves” commented Manager Mark Gould “too many penalties allowing sides to put the pressure on us, giving them easy outs. There again, maximum points is all you can ask for.”

Head coach Paul Matthews added “Scrum dominance and an improved defensive effort in the second half secured the win against a side that looked far from a bottom of the league team. Once again, we were made to fight to the very end.”

On a pleasant evening under lights at the Memorial ground the Wanderers were made to dig really deep to secure another home win against a spirited and more than capable Treorchy side.  A string of early penalties against the home side gave momentum to the Zebras from the off and after a quickly taken penalty they opened the scoring with a neat dart over by the scrum half. 0-7 to Treorchy. The Wanderers responded well.  Asanji Mofor made ground out wide and a penalty set up field position. After a failed drive by the home side pack, resulting in a scrum for the visitors the Wanderers scrum powered the Zebras off the ball and the referee awarded the Wanderers a penalty try, levelling the score at 7-7. It also saw Treorchy reduced to 14 for 10 minutes. Back came the Zebras. From a neat off the top lineout ball they sliced open the Wanderers defence and galloped away to score their second try 7-14. Penalties continued to flow for both sides but there was plenty of enterprise on show by both sets of backs. The game was held up for a short while after a brave tackle from one of the Zebra wingers on Mofor, who had picked up a real head of steam, resulted in a substitution for a head injury. The restart from the scrum saw Mofor once again come on a charge and not surprisingly the defenders were a little reticent in their tackling and he smashed his way over for the Wanderers second try. Ceri Morris converted 14-14. The game ebbed and flowed back and forth and once again a penalty gave the visitors decent field position. A drive from the lineout saw the arrival of several backs into the maul and the Zebras crashed over for their third try of the half 14-21. The Wanderers had chances to level it up before the break when turnover ball gave them field position but the scramble defence from the visitors dug deep to keep the home side out and the sides went into the break with Treorchy ahead 14-21.

The usual stern talking to from the Wanderers back-room staff galvanised the side into a response from the kick off. Finn Davies charged down a clearance kick and the pressure was mounted on the visitors. The play went deep into the Treorchy 22 and after recycling back out wide to the right-wing Davies was on hand to finish the move he initiated and score the home sides third try. Morris converted from out wide 21-21. Momentum was shifting to the home side and on the back of a more and more dominant scrum the Wanderers took the lead. A superb team try started by Ned Bennett, who broke down the right wing, was carried on by forwards and backs and Mofor was on hand to finish the move out wide on the left wing as he crossed for his second try 26-21. Confusion then followed as Morris waited for the tee. Unfortunately tee guardian Lee Highgate was at the burger van stocking up on burgers and bacon butties and Morris was forced into a hurried drop kick which went wide. The game entered its final quarter and both sides continued to have chances. Tension in the Massiv started to rise as everyone wondered as to whether the missed conversion might come back to haunt the Wanderers, but this side certainly can dig deep. A break from sub Rhys Iles took play deep and a penalty allowed Morris (with the tee!) to put the Wanderers two scores clear at 29-21.  As the game headed for injury time Treorchy showed they were not done and running from their own line they really scared the home side. A penalty got the score back to within a try at 29-24 and the last few minutes saw them go all out on the offensive. For the second league game in a row the Wanderers had to call on all their defensive resources and a jackal penalty saw the home side clear the ball into the terrace to end a very entertaining game. Final score 29-24

Wanderers scorers:

Tries: Penalty try, Asanji Mofor (2), Finn Davies

Cons: Ceri Morris (2)

Pens: Ceri Morris

Massiv Man of the match: Gruff John Morris
Management Man of the match: Asanji Mofor
Match Pics: https://flic.kr/ps/c7gzd