Ebbw Vale 31 RGC 16
Saturday 12th October 2024
RGC will look back on a crucial 5 minutes in the 2nd half were they created 2 clear try chances and failed to take them, before they capitulated and Ebbw Vale took full advantage.
Resolute defence in the opening 15 minutes from the Gogs, as the Steelmen tried everything to get inroads into the visitor’s half.
They looked for the driving maul, tried testing RGC in the air and attempted to carry through the middle – but couldn’t get anything.
RGC were strong in defence, with some dominant tackles and speed around the breakdown.
The opening score came from RGC, and felt like a sucker punch to the homeside. Sam Earl Jones backed himself from in his own half, as he has done in previous games and smashed the penalty over.
Ebbw Vale had looked to kick on a couple of occasions and when they sent the ball high the left wing, the ball ended up in Sam Stoddard’s hands and he raced down the field, kicked ahead, collected and touchdown for the try. Billy McBryde added the extras.
RGC stepped up gear in defence, chased everything and in normal situations a penalty in their own half isn’t really an opportunity, but with the boot of Sam Earl-Jones that isn’t the norm. The full-back nailed another 3 points from distance.
Ebbw Vale backed the power of their pack, but the Gogs were still keeping them out.
As much as the defence was working hard, it was frustrating as they couldn’t keep hold of the ball and the pressure was back on.
The homeside finally crossed the whitewash when scrum half Jonathan picked the ball from the back of the scrum to snipe over and Lloyd converted.
As halftime approached Danny Cross stepped and went close to the tryline, but was stopped with the line in sight.
RCG were under the cosh straight from the 2nd half restart, again working tirelessly without the ball.
The problem was when they had the chance to keep the ball, they were unable to do so. Lineouts were not firing and pressure kept on them.
Winger Bowden intercepted an RGC pass, but was but tackled into touch.
The Steelman were a man down when Curtis Gregory was sin binned.
RGC then got a foothold in the game, went through some phases upfield, and when they won a penalty McBryde scored.
Ebbw Vale answered back with a penalty from Lloyd minutes later
Then game the spell of the game that RGC will regret. It was their best spell of possession, multi-phases, controlling the ball and working to the line – but on 2 occasions they spurned 2 guilt-edge chances to score when it looked like the try was a definite with player numbers and the line in sight.
The fact they didn’t score, and the homeside were still only 6 points behind clearly gave them a boost. They then broke with speed down the field and within 10 seconds nearly went in for a try themselves
The shift in the game was felt on the pitch and in the stand, and the Ebbw Vale scrum was begging to get on the right side of the referee’s whistle.
Patrick Nelson was yellow carded, and then Ebbw Vale were awarded a penalty try and it was a 1-point lead for the Steelmen.
From the restart McBryde’s kick was short, and to Ebbw Vales delight they had the scrum on halfway.
The momentum was totally with Ebbw Vale, as they powered on time and time again.
Even when RGC regained possession, their own errors gave the homeside easy ball back.
The Gogs looked to break from their own 22m line but when Gruff John Morris knocked on Ieuan Evans picked the ball up and ran in for the try under the posts.
It was all Ebbw Vale and when another scrum drove hard, scrum half Evans grabbed the ball and crossed for his 2nd try before the boot of Lloyd ended the game with another conversion.
Post-game Director of Rugby Josh Leach “For 50 minutes we defended well, tackled with aggression and showed good discipline – showing that we had learnt from last week. Our forwards did well defending the Ebbw Vale maul, and we went in at halftime with a well-deserved lead.
We created a couple of chances, weren’t clinical and you could see the momentum shift and from that point we didn’t get grips with the game from that point.
I am proud of the boys for their effort, and it was a big improvement on last week, but the lesson is we need to be more ruthless away from home”
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