News

Following an arduous trip to North Wales to secure a place in the Welsh Youth Cup quarter final the Athletic travelled West to Pontardulais in defence of their Ospreys A League title. A very hard-fought game saw the Athletic with a 33-28 victory extend their unbeaten league campaign to 7 games, with a seasonal double which saw them opening a 9-point lead over their great rivals second placed Pontardulais.

The home side had first advantage of a breeze and slight slope on the pitch. They opened strongly with their No 8 prominent in surging forward drives and good tactical kicking pinning the Athletic deep inside their own 22. Excellent defence prevailed and against the run of play the Athletic responded from inside their own half. Good forward play saw scrum half Matthew Hobby work the ball blind to half back-partner Morgan Roberts who made a line break before handing on to flanker and captain Joe Grabham on the burst. He in turn fed centre Caine Woolerton who sprinted clear to throw a well-timed pass to try machine wing Sam Palmer to finish off a fantastic Athletic counter attack. Hobby converted.

Pontardulais went back on the offensive and reduced the deficit with a well struck penalty. The Athletic looking dangerous with ball in hand saw prop Chris Crumpton make a break before interchanging passes with Woolerton. From an ensuing ruck quick hands along the line saw wing Nathan Willis finish the move with style for a try converted by Hobby to extend the Ath lead to 14-3. Despite handling the Pontardulais attacks and counter attacking with great effect the Athletic were showing indiscipline. A penalty and Pontardulais pressure saw flanker Evan Budge force his way over for a converted try to bring the home side right back into the game with a one-point deficit. The Athletic responded with No 8 Will Barraclough taking a pop pass from Hobby and crashing through several tackles for a corner try to give the Athletic a 19-13 half time lead.

Despite the elements and pitch advantage handling errors and poor decision making aligned to a yellow card for Barroclough following a series of Athletic infringements saw this opportunity negated. Pontardulais took advantage of the extra man and their influential No 8 crossed for a converted try to give his side the lead at 20-19 for the first time in the game. To their credit the Ath dug deep and strong carries From Callum Swinford, Tom Zielinski and Tom Davies forced a penalty. Hobby obliged and repeated the feat to give the Athletic a 25-20 lead.

Worsening weather saw an arm wrestle of a game break out with both sides relying on their packs.  Excellent line out work from Jac Bassett saw the Athletic awarded a penalty which Hobby converted for his third of the half. Back came the home side with a try and penalty to level the scores at 28-28.

With the clock ticking down the Athletic were awarded a penalty well within Hobby’s range 30 metres out but elected to kick to the corner. Their enterprise was rewarded when Basset won the lineout transferring to Tom Davies to set up a driving maul culminating in Grabham rounding off a well-executed drive with the winning try. The failed conversion saw the Athletic whoop with delight and relief as the referee signalled the end of the game.

Head Coach Lee Grabham summed up “This was a massive victory as far as our defence of the league goes, but if the team wish to be contenders for silverware this season they will need to improve their discipline. Needless penalties and yellow cards can cost us games.”

Following an arduous trip to North Wales to secure a place in the Welsh Youth Cup quarter final the Athletic travelled West to Pontardulais in defence of their Ospreys A League title. A very hard-fought game saw the Athletic with a 33-28 victory extend their unbeaten league campaign to 7 games, with a seasonal double which saw them opening a 9-point lead over their great rivals second placed Pontardulais.

The home side had first advantage of a breeze and slight slope on the pitch. They opened strongly with their No 8 prominent in surging forward drives and good tactical kicking pinning the Athletic deep inside their own 22. Excellent defence prevailed and against the run of play the Athletic responded from inside their own half. Good forward play saw scrum half Matthew Hobby work the ball blind to half back-partner Morgan Roberts who made a line break before handing on to flanker and captain Joe Grabham on the burst. He in turn fed centre Caine Woolerton who sprinted clear to throw a well-timed pass to try machine wing Sam Palmer to finish off a fantastic Athletic counter attack. Hobby converted.

Pontardulais went back on the offensive and reduced the deficit with a well struck penalty. The Athletic looking dangerous with ball in hand saw prop Chris Crumpton make a break before interchanging passes with Woolerton. From an ensuing ruck quick hands along the line saw wing Nathan Willis finish the move with style for a try converted by Hobby to extend the Ath lead to 14-3. Despite handling the Pontardulais attacks and counter attacking with great effect the Athletic were showing indiscipline. A penalty and Pontardulais pressure saw flanker Evan Budge force his way over for a converted try to bring the home side right back into the game with a one-point deficit. The Athletic responded with No 8 Will Barraclough taking a pop pass from Hobby and crashing through several tackles for a corner try to give the Athletic a 19-13 half time lead.

Despite the elements and pitch advantage handling errors and poor decision making aligned to a yellow card for Barroclough following a series of Athletic infringements saw this opportunity negated. Pontardulais took advantage of the extra man and their influential No 8 crossed for a converted try to give his side the lead at 20-19 for the first time in the game. To their credit the Ath dug deep and strong carries From Callum Swinford, Tom Zielinski and Tom Davies forced a penalty. Hobby obliged and repeated the feat to give the Athletic a 25-20 lead.

Worsening weather saw an arm wrestle of a game break out with both sides relying on their packs.  Excellent line out work from Jac Bassett saw the Athletic awarded a penalty which Hobby converted for his third of the half. Back came the home side with a try and penalty to level the scores at 28-28.

With the clock ticking down the Athletic were awarded a penalty well within Hobby’s range 30 metres out but elected to kick to the corner. Their enterprise was rewarded when Basset won the lineout transferring to Tom Davies to set up a driving maul culminating in Grabham rounding off a well-executed drive with the winning try. The failed conversion saw the Athletic whoop with delight and relief as the referee signalled the end of the game.

Head Coach Lee Grabham summed up “This was a massive victory as far as our defence of the league goes, but if the team wish to be contenders for silverware this season they will need to improve their discipline. Needless penalties and yellow cards can cost us games.”