18 Feb 2023
RGC 24 Llandovery 25
Saturday 18th February 2023
RGC put on a late surge to run Llandovery close, as the Drovers left Stadiwm CSM with the win.
The boot of Jack Maynard opened the scoring with a penalty, which sparked RGC into a good spell in the game. They had ball in hand and attacked in the right places but couldn’t get any points on the board, which would prove costly in the end.
Rhys Tudor got on the end of a grubber kick but couldn’t get the ball down for the try. Sam Earl-Jones was next to put in a run before he was smothered by the Llandovery defence.
The visitors extended the lead when they moved the ball wide and Osian Davies ran in at the corner, for a fairly simple try.
RGC again got back in the Drovers half, but didn’t take advantage.
On the other hand Llandovery were punching holes straight through the RGC defence, and making some easy yards with ball in hand. Those easy yards led strength over the whitewash when centre Aaron Warren scored, Maynard added the extras.
Afon Bagshaw was a good attacking outlet down the left wing, and he went close to setting up Delwyn Jones for the score.
As the halftime whistle was looming RGC worked their way to the line, and it ended with a penalty from Sam Rogers to make it 3-15 at the break.
It was clear from the 2nd half RGC had upped the energy and chased the visitors down as soon as they had the ball.
The game entered a spell of kicks, as both sides looked for that upper hand or handling error.
RGC moved the ball wide but a Danny Cross pass couldn’t find the hands of Afon Bagshaw.
Llandovery extended the lead with another try after they found some space and Jamie Hughes capitalised with the score and a simple Maynard conversion.
Rhys Tudor again went close after he showed some football skills to chip a loose ball but it bounced out behind the posts before he could collect it.
RGC got a try when Afon Bagshaw went over, with Sam Rogers adding the extras but the game felt gone at that point.
It felt even more of an ask when Maynard took a penalty to make it 10-25 with 10 minutes to go.
Then the game turned on its head, when RGC got the maul going before replacement Efan Jones popped up with the ball to run in for the try, Morgan Bagshaw hit the extras.
Scrum-half Jones was the game-changer, and 2 minutes later he broke from his own half to rip open the field before passing to another replacement Harri Evans to run in for the try. Sam Rogers conversion closed the game to 1 point.
RGC sensed the win was a real possibility and went through some good phases, with some exciting offloads to edge up the field.
The excitement built in the stands but RGC just fell short at the final whistle, as Llandovery continued to put pressure on league leaders Cardiff who are 3 points ahead.
Head Coach Ceri Jones was left frustrated after the game
“It’s frustration with our own performance more than anything, and the difference between the 1st and 2nd half. In that opening 40 we lacked urgency, and you could see that from the 5 balls we got turned over with. We were sloppy and lacked speed going into contact.
The game got away from us and left us with too much to do. Credit to the boys for getting back into the game and putting us in a position where we could have won it.
We have seen the slow starts at times this season, where we are reactive and don’t start getting into the game until the opposition are on the front foot.
I thought the boys that came on added a lot to the game, and we had the young players Paddy Nelson, Morgan Bagshaw and Chris Hone all driving us forward. That last scrum would have done Paddy’s confidence a lot of good, as they would have put pressure on him and he stood up to it.
Billy McQueeney added some physicality in that 2nd half and you could see what Efan Jones and Harri Evans offered when they came on with that try, which was outstanding
Llandovery are a team that have only lost a couple of times, so we ran them close today, but the start was what cost us in the end. “
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