The Wagon Keeps Moving

We finally managed to get a game at our home in Penclawdd RFC. We hosted, the Vale of Glamorgan who are semi finalists in the DC Thomas Cup. We were looking forward to testing ourselves against them as we’d lost narrowly to them at Old Penarthians RFC just a couple of weeks ago.

We were without our captain Will and his Merry Men from Penclawdd as they were on tour down West. So, the job at the helm was left to Tom, our Vice Captain. He won the toss and elected to play with the stiff breeze behind us in the first half.

We had made a few changes to the starting team and wanted to test a few new combinations. The Vale kicked off and it was apparent from the start that they were going to make life difficult for us on the floor. We didn’t respect the ball enough and they turned us over with ease at the start. They had a few decent ball carriers and we struggled to maintain them.

Our defence was weak at first and we fell off a number of tackles. We were 5-1 down at the interval and the coaches were sensing a certain de’ja Vu?

We got the boys together at the interval and reminded them of what they’d achieved just 2 days’ before. We knew that as long as we respected the ball and cut out our basic errors then we could come back into this.

And come back into it we did! The forwards worked hard on the floor and started maintaining and turning over ball on the floor. We started spreading the ball wide and got in behind them to even things up. The trys kept coming and before we knew it it was back to a draw.

The rugby on display from both sides was superb to watch and I had to keep reminding myself that these kids are just 10 or 11 years old. The discipline from both sides was impeccable and their desire to throw the ball around and ‘play what was in front of them’ was a joy to watch.

As the game went on, we managed to find a weakness down the right wing and scored 3 trys in short succession to take the game beyond the Vale. They never gave up though and broke our line in the last minute to have the final say.

The game ended 80-70 to Llwchwr and there were a few tired bodies coming off that pitch today.

We wish the Vale the best of luck in their upcoming Cup game against Swansea Schoolboys next week.