GLAMORGAN COUNTY RFC HIGH MOTIVE SILVER BALL FINAL:

GLAMORGAN WANDERERS ...............................37 MAESTEG QUINS .......32

ROYAL occasions bring people together more than any other event and you don’t get anything more regal and royal in club rugby than the High Motive Glamorgan County Silver Ball Final.

For the 61st Silver Ball final, the Morganstone Brewery Field welcomed three times finalists and one time winner Glamorgan Wanders, runners-up of One East Central. Also fourth time finalists and twice winners of the Silver Ball Maesteg Quins champions of One West Central.

It was a match worthy of any final with the lead changing hands several times. Wanderers commanded the first thirty minutes. The Memorial Ground outfit advanced into a ten-nil lead.

The scores opened with a driving line-out try for loose-head Rob Lewis and Luke Fish converted. Wanderers’ kicking machine added a penalty when the Quins just couldn’t do anything right, conceding a stream of penalties from early scrum engagements to not rolling away.

Several times Wanderers threatened the Quins line but the Maesteg men held firm forcing turnovers and steals.

Eventually the Quins got an opportunity to attack. Ben Davies’ quick tap and pass inside to Lewis Tutt allowed the open-side to touchdown. The game was now becoming competitive.

With six minutes of the half remaining Rhodri Davies kicked a penalty when Nathan Smith was dragged down in mid-air at a line-out. The restart wasn’t dealt with efficiently, culminating in Fish converting his second penalty.

Building up pressure Kieran Watkins, Lee Ronan, Nathan Smith and Ben Davies were conspicuous in stretching the Wanderers defence. Coaxing a penalty the line-out drive concluded when Lewis Francis secured the score levelling try. Rhodri Davies kicked the conversion to give the Quins an unlikely half-time lead.

The Quins started the second period superbly with a sweeping move across the field. Francis, Jay Ronan and Ben Davies opened the defence allowing Tutt to score his second try. Rhodri Davies converted giving the Quins a good 22-13 lead.

It was a good but not insurmountable lead. Luke Fish spotted a midfield mismatch and goaled his own try to bring his team to within two points of the Quins.

Geraint Evans, Rhodri Bwye and Matthew Tidball combined to put the Wanderers on the back foot. When they conceded a penalty, Davies kicked the goal.

Quins failed to conserve on their lead. An elaborate midfield pass went forward. Handing possession back to the Ely club. A penalty at the scrum allowed the Wanderers to kick to touch and drive over for a score levelling try and Fish put his team back into the lead.

A poor cross-kick that served as a pass to the defending Wanderers fullback took the Cardiff suburbanites from their twenty-five into the Quins half. A penalty, needless puerile comment taking the kick within Fish’s range and the Wanderers were now handed a chance to extend their lead to 30-25, which they took with another Fish penalty.

Five attacking Quins scrums gleaned penalties. On the fifth occasion it resulted in a penalty try. The Quins had one hand on the Silver Ball. That hand was taken away when the kick-off wasn’t gathered. Quins shunted the following scrum backwards causing disruption.

Spreading the ball across the line, Wanderers were tackled in midfield but recycled quickly. Sending the ball out, wing Will Adams-Jones wriggled his way through. It was to end the game in favour of the Wanderers but not before man-of-thematch Fish added the extras to take the Silver ball back to Ely. PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY PRESSREADER