IRONMEN PROVE TOO STRONG FOR NEWPORT
NEWPORT..................... 26 MERTHYR...................... 50
MERTHYR continued their push for a top-eight place with a seven-try romp over Newport at Rodney Parade on Thursday night.
Following victory over Pontypridd, coaches Jarvis and McIntosh made several changes to give squad players an opportunity to impress, and they were not let down with 19-year-old youth second-rower Ben Sier making his premiership debut and showing why he is highly rated for the future.
Merthyr had early scoring chances when wing man Matthew Trowbridge went close twice, with only home defence keeping him out. Merthyr took the lead thanks to a penalty kick from full-back Matthew Jarvis.
However, from the restart, Merthyr were guilty of not securing ball and, when Newport recycled the ball, their back-line well marshaled, outsidehalf Matt O’Brien spread the ball wide to find wing man Elliot Frewen in space to race away for the try.
Back came Merthyr with some good pick and drives from Sier, Murphy, and Siggery to set up back-row man Osian Davies to crash over under the posts, Jarvis converted and Merthyr led 10-5.
Merthyr began to settle, outside-half Gareth Davies bringing his backs into play which was rewarded when a fine break from Gavin Dacey was supported by wing man Kyle Evans who raced away for the try, Jarvis converting and the Ironmen had raced into a 5-17 lead.
This gave the Ironmen confidence and, with Murphy and young Sier winning good line-out possession, Davies once again used centre Pincers to carry good ball which was recycled by Daley and Siggery. And when Davies spotted a space in the Newport defence, his cross kick was collected by Kyle Evans who raced away under the posts. Jarvis slotted the conversion to give Merthyr a 24-5 lead.
As usual, back-row man Osian Davies was showing why he is rated, as he stole several loose balls on the ground and was the thorn in the Newport side all match.
As the second half be- gan, Merthyr secured the bonus point as the physical and strong running Siggery broke several tackles to race away after some poor home tackling, with Jarvis converting. Merthyr were now in total command at 31-5.
As hard as Newport tried they could not cope with the pace of the Merthyr side as they continued to pile on the pressure.
And it was not long before Merthyr extended the lead further when Sier stole a Newport lineout 25 metres out which set up wing man Trowbridge to race away and find captain Downes on his inside to take the pass to touch down in the corner.
To make matters worse for the home side they were reduced to 14 men when prop Lavender was yellow-carded, however this seemed to give them some fighting spirt as replacement Christian Coleman jinked his way over after a fine run. Robson converted to bring the score to 36-12.
Merthyr then seemed to relax as Newport came back, moving the ball wide for full-back Llywarch Ap Myridd to race away for a fine try which Robson converted to close the gap to 36-19. But any chances of a fightback were soon quashed when Kyle Evans showed his pace and skill as he collected a kick 40 metres out to jink and weave his way over for his third try of the night which Jarvis converted for a 4319 lead.
Newport tried to reply with some good inter play between forwards and backs and this time it was the turn of replacement full-back O’Driscoll to collect a pass from Robson to score which Robson duly converted to close the gap once again to 43-26 to gain a bonus point.
Merthyr No.8 Tom Daley then broke on the half way line to sprint up field and was soon supported by replacement youth product Owen Jones and when the forwards quickly recycled the ball, Osian Davies was on hand to crash over for his second try. Jarvis again converted, sealing the 5026 win for Merthyr to lift them to second in the Premiership league table.
Merthyr now face another big challenge this weekend when they entertain last season’s Premiership champions Ebbw Vale.