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RGC Claim Bonus Point Win

RGC Claim Bonus Point Win 24 Nov 2018

RGC can thank their driving maul as an attacking weapon in the victory against Llanelli.

RGC 39 Llanelli 19

Saturday 24th November 2018

Head Coach Mark Jones credited his teams forwards in the win “When I arrived I looked to implement my attacking philosophies, but as we have said before we need to develop that other side of our game.  The maul attack is difficult to stop at any level of the game, and we have the right mentality it is something we can use well.  It also helps us when we then look to play of the top of the line-out, with teams trying to read what we will do.

We wanted to get some momentum on and off the field, and with the 2 wins a back to back we now have something to work on.  It is a game on the road next week and Aberavon are massive favourites, and historically it is a place that has been tough for us, so we head down with 2 wins behind us knowing we need to put in another top performance."

The visitors started well in the opening 5 minutes having plenty of ball, but credit to RGC’s defence who remained disciplined and didn’t concede any penalties.

It was the homeside that crossed the line first, when Billy McBryde finished of the break with a try. The fly-half also added the conversion against his former side.

Llanelli answered back with a couple of penalties, first from Ioan Hughes penalty, and then a minute later Jonny Lewis struck a big kick from halfway.

When RGC had the ball, they made good use of it making some good yards but the frustrating part was that they left a couple of scoring chances on the field.

Try number too arrived, after Tom Hughes worked some space before setting up Iolo Evans to touchdown in the corner. 

The RGC centre Hughes was having a good half, and was creating some space with ball in hand.

Llanelli were using the boot to peg RGC back, and for a spell it became a bit of a kick-fest between both sides. Dion Jones was impreessing with the high ball catches, and he was looking to set up his sides attacking play from deep.

McBryde had an opportunity to extend the lead, but his penalty rattled the post.  He did make amends shortly afterwards with a another penalty kick which sailed between the posts.

The visitors did grab a score just before halftime and RGC would have been disappointed in conceding it. Llanelli grabbed the ball from a poor line-out and pressure was put on the home-sides line.  It wasn’t long before Tom Phillips crossed over with Hughes converting to make it 17-13 at the break.

Both sides traded penalties in the 2nd   half with Hughes hitting a couple for Llanelli and McBryde answering back for RGC.

The Gogs were looking to find that gap in the visitors defence, but on most occasions the visitors were able to nullify the attacks.

Cam Davies and Tom Hughes did find some space, but once again the chance was spurned when it looked like the try was on.

With 20 minutes to go RGC began to take a hold of the game upfront, and the maul drove over the line ended with an Evan Yardley try. McBryde kicked the conversion

Llanelli were not offering much attacking wise, and they were racking up the penalties for infringements around the breakdown which enable RGC’s pack to take control of the game.

The bonus point try arrived when Andrew Williams smashed his way across the line over, and McBryde took his points tally to 19  for the day with the conversion.

 

With the game one, the finishing touches were added with replacement hooker George Roberts claiming the 5th try after more good work from the RGC forwards who can take huge confidence into next weeks game.