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26 January 2020 / Club News

Tondu 2nd XV 14 Bridgend Athletic Generals 3

Tondu 2^nd XV 14 Bridgend Athletic Generals 3

Friendly – Sat Jan 25^th, 2020

The 2^nd XV’s of local rivals Tondu and Bridgend Athletic provided an entertaining and hard-fought battle in a friendly at Pandy Park. In an evenly fought contest Tondu’s better discipline and sticking to the basics of rugby triumphed over the Athletic Generals trying too many miracle passes and set piece line out malfunctions. This was emphasised by Tondu outscoring the Athletic by 3 penalties to one and a line out driving maul try to run out 14-3 winners.

Early on both sides created good chances. The Athletic let the ball go through the hands of outside half Matthew Hobby and centres Hywel Cosby and Lynsey McCausland to wing Cameron Lewis who drew his man before a chip and chase led to Tondu scrambling to clear inside their own 22. This was matched by Tondu’s wing racing 40 metres along the touchline and a cross kick which would have drawn a try if the Tondu centre had not kicked the ball over the dead ball line before he could touch down. For 25 minutes it was nip and tuck with both sides probing for openings but meeting determined defences.

This changed on a petty moment of indiscipline with an Athletic player thinking it was funny to tap the ball on the head of an opponent in front of the referee. Tondu kicked the resultant penalty into touch 25 metres from the Athletic try line and won a penalty from a move from the line out. Tondu centre Rory Nichols converted. Within 5 minutes the Generals conceded another three penalties taking the home side into their 22 where Nichols was again on target to stretch the lead to 6-0.

The Athletic responded with a run by centre Hywel Cosby and high kick ahead. Cosby was illegally pulled back by a Tondu player and Matthew Hobby kicked a good 35 metre penalty to leave the half time score at 6-3.

Another Athletic indiscretion gave Nicholl’s his hat trick of penalties to open a 9-3 lead.

Athletic flanker Javen Bell and prop Brandyn Fooks were prominent in the Athletic second half forward effort, with full back Liam Phillips and Hywel Cosby strong in the backs. A disappointing aspect of the Athletics’ set piece was a failure of the line out to function, with a few a few 5-metre line out opportunities squandered. In the 65^th minute Tondu had a similar opportunity and showed the Athletic how it should be done driving Rhys Brain over the try line for a 14-3 lead.

To the Athletics’ credit they fought back hard. The large penalty deficit against the Athletic was rapidly reduced as Tondu were now serial offenders as the Athletic controlled the final 15 minutes. With a suspect line out they were taking tap penalties allowing a determined Tondu defence to line up and thwart their efforts. In desperation the Generals were trying missed passes and miracle balls which were often misdirected allowing Tondu easy outs, instead of drawing players and creating openings.

The Athletic deserved far more from the game but will have to work on the basics and cut out indiscipline and conceding unnecessary penalties if they are to succeed in more important future league or cup competitions.

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