Drovers Defeat Gogs

RGC 21 Llandovery 40
Saturday 27th January 2024

League leaders Llandovery put on an impressive display and left North Wales with 5 points, and a 5 try first-half performance that RGC couldn’t recover from.
RGC had the opportunity to take the lead early on but the penalty from Sam Earl-Jones struck the upright.

The visitors looked dangerous in attack when they moved the ball through hands and they tested RGC.  The pressure told and Harri Doel crossed for the opening try with Ioan Hughes converting.

Minutes later Llandovery crossed the line again when winger Aaron Warren evaded a tackle to run in and Hughes converted to make it a 14-point lead.
The pressure cranked up again as the Drovers were making easy yards and opening up the pitch, and on the 20-minute mark the ball is fired wide and Kian Abraham collected to score in the corner.

It seemed easy for the visitors as RGC were unable to contain them when they took the ball at pace,
RGC finally sparked into attack with Arthur Lennon making a break, and the ball moved from left to right before Delwyn Jones knocked on as he was tackled.
Delwyn Jones then made another strong break through the middle, but that support runner was just a few yards behind when he looked to offload but it was a more positive spell of play, but it wasn’t converted into points.

They finally broke onto the scoreboard when Sam Williams crossed over from close range and Sam Earl-Jones converted.
It was crucial that the Gogs kept that scoreboard ticking over to close the points gap before half-time but the Drovers scored under the posts a minute later by Rhodri Jones with a simple conversion from Hughes. That was the bonus point try.

Accuracy was the difference between the sides when Llandovery created breaks and opportunities they took them, but RGC were unable to take advantage of the attacking runs they made.  The pace and speed around the ruck for the Drovers.
Try number 5 arrived for Llandovery as halftime approached, and the maul pushed and pushed before Nathan Hart got the score and Hughes was again on point with the boot.

Dion Jones and Ethan Fackrell were brought on for the start of the second half, as the Gogs needed a response quickly.  Urgency and intensity around the tackle and breakdown was seen, but with the big points advantage, Llandovery were looking to pin RGC back with kicks.
Again the handling errors were costing RGC, which was frustrating for both players and supporters alike.

It was a frantic half with both sides making breaks, looking for that offload and getting turned over which led to some end-to-end play.

RGC did get their 2nd try after the back tried to go over on a few occasions before Dafydd Williams picked the ball from the back of the ruck, spun around to score.  Earl-Jones with the extras.

RGC kept on pushing, showing some endeavour in attack but were one accurate pass from creating that scoring run at crucial times.
The visitors didn’t need to keep their fast-paced tempo game, as they defended and continued to kick and keep the ball in the RGC half.

Sam Williams got over the line again from close range for the try, and Sam Earl-Jones converted as the Gogs pushed for the bonus point try.

In a similar fashion to the end of the first half, Llandovery answered back with a try a minute later and Hughes finished the game with the conversion.

Head Coach Ceri Jones “Clearly, it’s not good enough from us as a group, and obviously, I got it wrong with selection and preparations.

I thought we were in a good place after training this week, but it wasn’t good enough.  Llandovery top of the league, champions and if you give them speed of ball then it's difficult to contain them – and we gave it to them on a plate.

This is not the RGC performance we are used to and we need to get it right and address this.  I told the players we wouldn't shy away and the review would be a difficult one. As a group, we need to be better.

In the 2^nd half we agreed not to roll over, and stay in the fight and I thought the players we brought on added that bit – Dion, Facks and Billy.

If we don’t convert that 2^nd half into an 80-minute performance then we won’t get anywhere in the league.

This is as disappointing as I have been at a performance since my time at RGC, and we need to look at ourselves.   If we don’t and play similar in 2 weeks at Newport then they will punish us as well.

The next 2 weeks is looking at resolving and addressing what we need to do, and what we didn’t do today.”