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Bridgend Athletic and Dunvant shared the spoils with a 20-20 draw in a hard-fought Division 1 West Central encounter at Newbridge Fields. It was a rare draw for the Athletic whose last tied match was 25-25 against Kenfig Hill in April 2017.

Playing with wind advantage Dunvant with a much taller and heavier pack of forwards looked to impose themselves from the off. Their outside half Richard Wiliams kicked a second minute penalty after the Athletic were penalised for not releasing the ball in a tackle.  On 10 minutes they drove a maul deep into the Athletic 22 before releasing Williams to glide through a gap and cross under the posts. His conversion stretched the lead to 10-0.

The following 20 minutes saw the Athletic come back into the game. On the half hour Dunvant hooker Ceri Davies was yellow carded for illegally collapsing an Athletic driving maul as it approached the try line. With parity in weight the Athletic when they were awarded a 5-metre scrum went for a pushover try. The front row of Wayne Fooks, Lee Murphy and Matthew Muir with good weight from locks Ben Cording and Jonathon Stoker drove the taller Dunvant pack backwards. Showing great ball control No 8 Will Petchell kept the ball at the back before picking up and dabbing down as the scrum edged over the Dunvant line. Full back Jacob Lloyd added the conversion to lower the deficit to 10-7.

From the restart Dunvant drove into the Athletic 22. A driving maul was halted on the try line but Dunvant’s captain and flanker Adam Gregory was hand to pick up and cross near the posts giving Williams a simple opportunity to convert. Back came the Athletic and a series of pick and goes resulted in a penalty well goaled by Lloyd against the wind from 40 metres. Dunvant led 17-10 at the break.

Just after the resumption Dunvant were again penalised stopping an Athletic drive with Lloyd reducing the deficit to 17-13 with a well struck penalty. The Athletic then must have thought they were back in Div 1 East Central as Dunvant with a jumbo pack reminiscent of many sides in that division showed good ball retention to keep the ball in their pack and deny the Athletic meaningful possession. The Athletic pack with flankers Sean Williams and captain Ben Howe showed great tackling technique to prevent Dunvant from crossing the gain line. Centres Joe Patterson and normal No 8 Ben Davies helping an injury crisis were also determined defenders on the occasions Dunvant elected to go wide.

From a turnover deep inside the Athletic half scrum half Robin Davies found outside half Jonathan Phillips. Phillips launched a high up and under which he contested on the Dunvant 10 metre line causing the Dunvant defender to lose possession. Showing great footballing skills Phillips dribbled for forty metres just winning the touchdown under the posts. Lloyd’s conversion saw the Athletic ahead for the first time in the game at 20-17. The Athletic brought on prop Morgan Clemett and lock Tom Penry Ellis.

When Dunvant were again reduced to 14 players with their captain Gregory assigned to the bin for foul play it looked as though the Athletic would hold on.

However, with three minutes remaining the Athletic were penalised at a ruck 35 metres out and Dunvant full back Joe Packer stepped up to level the scores at 20-20.

The game was a bit of an arm wrestle in difficult slippery and windy conditions and there were few opportunities for Athletic wings Tom James and Javan Bell to show their paces.

The Athletic are grateful to their President Wayne Griffiths of Nathaniel cars for sponsoring the game. In the clubhouse Athletic No 8 Ben Davies was presented with the Nathaniel Cars Sales Player of the Month for September by Marketing Executive Emyr Watkin, the brother of Welsh centre Owen Watkin. Ben has played his normal No 8 position, as well as wing and centre to great effect covering injuries so far this season.

This Saturday Oct 5^th the Athletic visit newly promoted Birchgrove, before returning to Newbridge Fields on Oct 12^th to entertain North Wales side Bala in the 2^nd round of the National Plate competition.