Pencoed pay price for a poor period of play
PENCOED ................... 24 MORRISTON ............... 29
VISITORS Morriston raced into a seventeen points to nil lead in the opening 15 minutes, Christopher Shill opening the match scoring with a penalty goal before scrum half Gareth Thomas scored with a fine individual 60 metre effort, Shill converted.
Morriston soon got a second, wing Ross Mainwaring racing over for Shill to convert. Pencoed then proceeded to dominate the middle part of the match creating several chances during the second quarter before sustained pressure from a dominant scrummage gave them the platform for scrum half Rhys Clark to use the blindside and hooker Rhys Pilliner handled before second row Ricky Somers crossed wide out.
Pencoed continued to press but the score remained 5-17 at the interval.
Pencoed then scored a superb try on the resump- tion of play, spreading the ball wide in their own 22 to set left wing Ryan Russell free down the touchline before feeding the supporting Clark on the inside and the final transfer saw centre Morgan Jones race over from 30 metres out, Jake Lloyd added the extras.
Then came a somewhat fortuitous score for the visitors with Pencoed on top at this juncture, the home threes again moving the ball wide however a breakdown in midfield saw visitors centre Matthew Morris hack the ball downfield and with all the home backs committed to the move Morris patiently steered the ball to get the touchdown and a crucial score, Shill converted and the visitors led 12-24 against the run of play.
The Pencoed scrum was now dominant but once again in attack the last pass let them down with a score likely before good driving play from the pack saw Somers drive over for his second try.
Going into the final minutes Morriston put the game out of Pencoed’s reach capitalising immediately on a home “Yellow “to cross in the left hand corner.
To their credit Pencoed returned to the attack and good combined play saw David Young getting the try bonus point along with a valuable losing bonus point.
Pencoed will reflect on an opening quarter which ultimately cost them the match, and a little more accuracy in their attacking play will bring results.