Male’s the man for the job as Wands grab draw
GLAMORGAN Wanderers left it late to snatch a draw at Porth Quins to keep a health 10-point gap at the top of the Division 2 East Central table.
It took a try from Josh Male with only a minute left on the clock to rescue the Wanderers and Callum Bricknell’s conversion tied things up at 22-22.
The Quins had put up a mighty challenge and could so easily have held on for a big win.
With Rhiwbina only picking up four points from their 12-10 win over Dinas Powys it meant they were only able to cut the gap at the top to 10 points, although the Squirrels do have four games in hand on the league leaders. The top two meet in Rhiwbina on March 8.
The Wanderers’ line-out failed to function and the Quins; front five put their visitors under huge pressure at the scrum.
The first points to the home side came from a scrum penalty and they eased their way into a 9-0 lead as they punished the Wanderers’ ill-discipline.
Luke Fish finally pulled back a penalty for the Wanderers and then Cameron Gibbon raced clear for the first try of the game to cut the gap to a single point.
Just when it looked as though that was how the first half was going to end, the Quins stole another line-out, drove deep into the Wanderers 22 and were rewarded with not only a penalty try, but also saw Rob Lewis depart for 10 minutes to give them an extra man advantage at the start of the second period.
Two more penalties for the home side stretched their lead to 22-8 and gave the visitors’ a mountain to climb. They used their firmed-up scrum to gain a penalty try and then went in search of a third try to get something out of the game.
It eventually came, but not before the nerves of all Wanderers coaches, players and fans had been frayed to the extreme. The Wanderers host midtable Cambrian Welfare on March 2 before their crunch clash with Rhiwbina.
The Squirrels had the boot of Lewis Pearce to thank for their latest triumph as he kicked four penalties to earn his side a slender 12-10 victory.
Three of them came in a first-half that ended 9-3 to the home side, with the fourth then extending the lead.
Dinas hit back with a great try from scrum half Sam Middlemiss, which Ben White converted, but their hopes of finding a winning score were hampered by a yellow and then red card for the same player.