Friendly win for Ravens
BRIDGEND RAVENS .. 40 NEATH .......................... 21
BRIDGEND Ravens warmed up for their Foster’s Challenge Cup semifinal against Bedwas on Saturday with an excellent friendly victory over Neath at the Bridgendford Brewery Field.
Able to rotate the side to take a look at squad depth, including starts for five teenagers, Bridgend were pleased with the performance ahead of the Bedwas game.
An arm wrestle of a first half saw the two sides go back and forth ending the half with two tries apiece.
A clear tactic to kick behind the Ravens defence helped Neath dominate early territory but it was Bridgend who struck first with a breakaway score from speedster Mike Powell.
A pass to ground from the Welsh All Blacks handed the ball to Powell who raced clear from 50 metres. Debutant outside half Jacob Lloyd added the conversion.
Ten minutes later, Neath struck back following a powerful maul drive. Despite the ball appearing to have been lost over the line, the referee awarded the try and Ed Howley was able to level the scores.
Bridgend added a second try just after the half-hour mark. A fumble from Neath on the Ravens 22 allowed supporters’ Man-of-the-Match Connor Tantum to race clear making 60 metres before calmly waiting for support to arrive. A well timed pass took out three Neath scrambling defenders as Morgan Jones continued the breakaway, a final pass to Powell saw the winger stroll over for a second try. Lloyd’s conversion was sent wide to leave just a five-point gap as half-time neared.
The visitors struck late in the half for their second try, an offside decision Oliver Petty caught the ball and ran in to the corner for a try.
Celtic’s second try came when Mathew Harris kicked a penalty to the corner, hooker Ashley Poole found second row Alex Jones and the pack drove flanker Garin Bowen over for a try.
The second half continued in the same way. Props Sean Lambert and Daniel Miller continued to be prominent in both attack and defence. Second row Robert Golden, winger Kyle Buckley and flanker Jonathan Davies created try scoring opportunities but failed to touch down. Celtic’s third try came when pressure on the Penlan line forced a poor relieving kick which was caught by centre Lee Arthur. He ran down the touch line and passed inside to Mathew Harris who linked up with second row Alex Jones who ran in the try. Mathew Harris converted.
The bonus point try minute before opening the scoring.
Full back Ryan Russell broke down the right evading a couple of home defenders to feed winger Jamie Dyer who did extremely well to squeeze in at the corner flag. However, the score remained 5-0 at the break. following a knock-on that the home crowd clearly disapproved of, gave Neath good field position, a wide move allowed Ed Howley to glide through and score. The winger converted for a two-point Neath lead at the break.
A frantic start to the second half saw both sides have great chances in the opening couple of minutes.
Mike Powell looked to be in for his hat-trick with just a minute played but the pass eluded him and he knocked on. Moments later Aaron Grabham looked to have pushed Neath further ahead but was pulled back for a forward pass.
Connor Tantum added the Ravens third try. A penalty kicked to touch saw the forwards carry hard into the 22. A perfectly executed show and go from the livewire scrum half allowed Tantum to stroll over. Lloyd added his second conversion. came when winger Ben Poole took the ball into the 22 and quick ball from the ruck was passed by scrum half Lloyd Paget to Kristian Jenkins who put substitute second row Mathew Jones into a
Pencoed then got an early foothold in the home 22 on the resumption and a couple of effective carries from prop Brandon Nelson set up the second try, Supporting second row Ricky Somers unselfishly provided the try scoring pass to David Young who ran around
Tom O’Flaherty showed his aerial ability with a brilliant leap to claim a high ball and managed to break through the Neath defence. Quick recycling from Bridgend worked a slight gap out wide where replacement Geraint Watkin was able to squeeze over for a fourth try. A great touchline conversion from Jacob Lloyd stretched the lead to 12 points.
Bridgend’s fifth try arrived following some good gap. Mathew charged 20 metres to the line, side stepping the full back on the way. Mathew Harris converted. Penlan scored in the corner after a period of pressure to end the game. behind the posts, Jamie Pensom added the extras. Cwmavon then went on to enjoy their best period of the match with the changes to their pack giving them impetus at the set piece. G
oing into the final 10 minutes, the home side were camped on the Pen- footballing skills from Morgan Jones. The centre grub kicked through and managed to get a toe to the ball ahead of the Neath defence, the ball sat up perfectly for Jones who was able to offload to Garin Lougher for the try. Lloyd again added the conversion.
Neath added a third try shortly after, despite an initial solid effort from the Ravens defence, Neath managed to sneak over out wide. Howley main- tained his perfect record from the tee with his third conversion.
A yellow card following a no-arms tackle on Jacob Lloyd left little threat from Neath late on. Another show of great skill from Tom O’Flaherty, marking his return to Ravens colours, saw a break out wide followed by a chip and gather for the score. Jacob Lloyd added the conversion to round off his Bridgend debut with 10 points from the tee. to recruit players. Whether your child is an experienced player or looking to take the game up,give us a go. Training is every Wednesday and we play on Sundays. All coaches are WRU qualified.
Come along and join a great bunch of kids and make new friends. For more information contact Paul on 07980 651165 or Simon on 07342 649180. was a close game again with thee Sports backs wanting to run and Celtic forwards denying them the ball.
The Celtic backs defended manfully against a strong Sports line up but were unable to keep them out. Keith Stone scored two tries for Celtic and Rhodri Thomas kicked one conversion.
Sports tries were scored by Lewiss Obard, Chris Watts and Lloyd Roderick with Darren Lewis converting two.
This much changed youthful Pencoed squad deserved this hard fought win and will look to consolidate their top half position over their remaining games.
On saturday, Pencoed host Nantymoel at the Recreation Ground 2,30pm ko.