A triumphant week-end all round. On the international stage, progress to the quarter finals assured and the prospect of more to come. At a more local level, Gowerton finally came to the rugby party too, providing us also with a glimpse of what can be.
It was a scrappy start. Two teams struggling to establish that most important of features, rhythm. But slowly it came. It was the backs, undercooked in the early season games, who began to fire. The influential Charlie W fed to Josh B, in feisty form, who released Jacob T to power down the line for the opening try on his debut. What a find.
Alex J, finding space and running some superb lines, began to create havoc in the Fall Bay defence before releasing Jake T again before he knocked on. The forwards sensed the mood, Rhys D once again prominent, but it was a great run and kick on by the ever improving Joe D that led to Ethan H recovering the ball to set up Charlie W offloading to James R who set up Alex J to go close.
The rugby was flowing now, but on a rare Fall Bay attack it was Kobe B who made a magnificent tackle to halt the move. Josh B and Alex J were making inroads at every opportunity but it was a mazy run by Rhys D from deep, an interchange with Jake T, and a feed to Charlie W who linked with Kobe B that led to Alex J picking up the offload to go over under the posts. Soon after it was a long pass by Alex J that led to Josh B going over after a powerful run down the line from deep.
Fall Bay showed great character to come back and went close a couple of times, but it was the impressive Elliot H who fed to Charlie W to put Jake T away again and make it 26-0 at the half.
It was Joe D who ignited the second half with two fantastic runs. Both teams were playing their part in an entertaining spectacle, Jac S was quick and accurate with his passing and giving the backs time to go to work.Charlie W and Josh B working beautifully in midfield with the dangerous Josh W and Jake T outside them. Charlie W made one thumping tackle on Fall Bay to halt one move in midfield.
Rhys D picked up a pass out wide to go under the posts as Fall Bay tired, and repeated the score three times more to extend the lead before Fall Bay came back in to the game toward the end with three tries and left the scoreline 54-17 at the end.
There were improvements all round. Josh P growing in confidence with each game and developing a nice line in Sonny BIll offloads, James R finding a fine running game, Josh W and Kobe B offering both defensive and attacking skill and Jack G getting involved everywhere. With a fine front row, it is now time to show some consistency as we enter a period of winnable games for the team.
Thank you all those players who were happy to play for Fall Bay for a period to ensure a competitive game took place.
The coaches were Lynn Simons (happy birthday) and Andrew Daniel and the First Aid was provided by Ceri Daniel.
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