Cougars fight to secure hard-earned victory

RUGBY LEAGUE RFL CONFERENCE SOUTH VALLEY COUGARS ..... 24 GLOUCESTERSHIRE ALL GOLDS RESERVES ................... 20

VALLEY Cougars fought out a hard-earned victory on Saturday beating All Golds reserves 24-20 under the potentially stormy skies of Treharris.

It was just as heated on the pitch, as the Cougars gained their win when they were two men short, following a couple of second half incidents that saw one sin-bin for the All Golds and two, plus a red for Cougars.

All Golds were the first to draw blood as they took the lead with a Sam Hodge try. Archie Gibbs converted.

The home side struck back almost instantly as Ben Jones set up Jack Watkins to score in the corner. Mike Hurley converted well.

The All Golds regained the lead on 25 minutes when Harry Kidd forced his way over and Gibbs converted.

It was almost a carbon copy of events as Cougars capitalised on an er- ror from kick-off. Ethan Coombes grounded the ball and Hurley’s kick was again successful. 12-12 at the break.

The second half had a very colourful start as an already heated encounter spilled over into a brawl which left the home side temporarily down to 11 and the visitors to 12.

All Golds took advantage of their numbers straight away when a great burst of speed from Jack Uren gave them a six-point lead. Gibbs converted.

The pendulum swung back again as Watkins scored his second near the corner. Hurley converted well again to make it 18-18.

All Golds then had two possible chances to win the game, but didn’t take either.

First Dieter Thomas missed a drop goal attempt then, following the final Cougars’ sin-bin, the away side made debatably their biggest error of the game when, 20 metres from the line, when they were 13 against 11, they opted to go for the posts due to the resulting penalty, which Gibbs easily kicked.

It gave them a 20-18 lead but it could have been more had they gone for a try, plus it wasted valuable time when Cougars were a man short.

A relieved Cougars battled up field, and despite being two men down, got the winner, against the odds as Liam Watton touched down under the sticks following good work by Jones. Hurley converted again.

All Golds looked for a winner but good defence kept them out. A trysaving tackle when they pushed Keiran Webb into touch, then a dropped ball on the 10-metre line almost gifted them a winner but Cougars held on.