Bridgend Athletic have the edge in scrappy affair

BUILTH WELLS ............ 13 BRIDGEND ATHLETIC 15

THIS was a scrappy and hard fought game with a nail-biting finish.

The Bulls surged at the Athletic line through a lively pack and batteringram centre Stephen Boore. They soon forced a penalty which full back Dale Jones kicked and immediately returned to the attack. The Athletic turned the ball over and broke to halfway and forced Builth to infringe. They went for a lineout and when the drive was stopped, the ball was quickly recycled to outside half Scott Govan whose neat half-break and inside pass to Michael Hathaway allowed the centre to force his way over for a try converted by Govan. It was a lost lineout when attacking that allowed Builth to surge up field once more and the Athletic had a narrow escape when Jones hit the post with a long range penalty. A strong run by Zach Evans led to another penalty this time Govan stretched the lead to seven points.

The game was littered with penalties and free kicks. Eventually, it was Bridgend’s No 8 Rory Thomas that infringed once too often and was yellow carded.

The second half followed a pattern similar to the first with the Athletic looking to play a more expansive game but being hampered by some uncharacteristically poor decision making and poor execution. Builth relied on a driving game when in possession and a harrying spoiling style in defence. This produced a game that was bitty and very stopstart throughout.

The Athletic did themselves no favours when Hathaway was shown a yellow card not two minutes after Thomas returned from his enforced break. Builth continued to drive their way up the pitch and eventually pressure told and they scored a try through their powerful captain, flanker Wayne Morris. The Bulls contin- ued to make inroads until a swift turnover allowed the Ath to spread the ball wide to Chris Walker. When challenged, the winger kicked ahead and hacked past the defence to score a fine individual try.

Mistakes proved costly when Builth kicked to the corner and sent 12 players into the ruck for acting outside half Ben Pugh to score.

Next Saturday, Bridgend Athletic entertain Cwmllynfell at Newbridge Fields. Kick off 2.30pm.