DIVISION ONE EAST CENTRAL
ALTHOUGH the Old Firm probably had more of the territory than the visitors during this match, and scoring chances to go with it, it was the extra potency in attack of Dowlais which won them this game at Duffryn Pennar Park.
Mount got off to a good start and in the opening minutes, No 8 Kriss Sanders broke into the Dowlais 22 and passed to hooker Jack James who was brought down metres out. The Old Firm were nearly over from the resulting scrum but conceded a penalty for Dowlais to clear.
A quickly taken throwin on their own 22 by the visitors saw speedy centre Kristian Owen take advantage of the space available to take play up to the Mount 22. Quick ball was moved wide, and with the Mount defence at sixes and sevens, some good handling by Dowlais saw hooker Chris Williams touch down for the first try of the afternoon, which outside half Lloyd Hines converted to make it 7-0.
Centre Alex Hughes was almost through from a pass from a lineout on the Dowlais 22 but the referee judged the pass forward. From a scrum in the Dowlais half, the visitors found space wide out to send their wing away. Although tackled in the Mount 22, the ball was moved again and eventually resulted in wing Nathan Pritchard scoring in the corner to take the lead up to 12-0 after 19 minutes. A wellstruck 30m penalty from midway out by wing Will Holley brought the Old Firm back to 12-3 down, but it didn’t last long as Hines converted a penalty from a similar distance to make it 15-3 after half hour.
Right on half-time, a kick at goal from a penalty 15m out was rejected for a kick to touch, but the lineout was lost and half-time was signalled.
The Old Firm had by far the better of the territory in the second half but could not breach the Dowlais defence from close-in lineouts or scrums. A Will Holley penalty after 56 minutes gave Mount hope at 15-6, but once again the comeback was short lived as Dowlais No 8 Daniel Snape was on hand to take an inside pass from his wing to score in the corner from a solitary attack, which took his side’s lead up to 20-6. Although the visitors had a forward yellow carded, it made no difference with the Old Firm unable to convert their one-man advantage into points.
The pressure continued to the end but some determined Dowlais defence kept the Old Firm out for the visitors to claim the points and close the gap in the Division 1 East Central table.
After two close games already this season in cup and league, Mountain Ash Athletic had another close game with Penallta 2nd XV at Caedrawnant in the Rhondda and East Glamorgan League and were just beaten 18-10 after leading 10-8 at half-time through a try by flanker Darren Dix and a penalty and conversion by back Liam Jones.
Mount played Youth players Jack Roberts, Morgan James and Jordan Burke, who all did well throughout the game.
The club’s congratulations are once again extended to second row forward Sean Moore, who was capped for a third time by Wales Under20s against Ireland at the weekend.
This Friday, March 17, there is a players’ reunion at the clubhouse and all players past and present are invited, 7.30pm start.
This Friday, March 17, the Mountain Ash Youth visit Abercynon, kick off 7pm. There are no games this Saturday due to the France v Wales Six Nations game.
The Old Firm are back in action on Saturday, March 25 when they make the short trip to Porth for a Division 1 East Central game, kick-off 2.30pm.