News

3^rd December 2016

Cwmcarn 15  Old Tylerians 21

Familiar old foes OT’s were visitors to the Welfare. Having recently beaten them at their own pitch in the cup, Carn were pretty confident of a win at home in the league....Someone forgot to tell OT’s, who turned up with their A game & possibly the best OT’s side I have faced in 20 years. All that said, there was something unusually subdued about Carn – Almost like we weren’t expecting to get any presents at Christmas.

From the kick-off, OT’s ran hard & straight; invariably making in-roads. They were chucking the ball around with real confidence & Carn looked shell-shocked to be honest. By the time we realised we were up against a decent team, we were 21 points down. The only area of dominance Carn had, was the scrum & with very little ball being spilled (at least by OT’s), there weren’t that many scrums to exploit. With the first scrum near the OT’s line, Carn focused their energy on a push-over try. OT’s made us work hard for it, but Carn just managed to get near enough for number 8, Josh The Bus Bussell to touch down. At last we had points on the board, but Carn were still up against it & ended the half 21-5 down. At half-time our coach Morgan Blakey Goff was quick to point out we were lucky not to be much further behind.

Carn were determined to put in a better second half performance & come away with the win. OT’s clearly had a similar plan & continued to make life tough. Their big players in the pack were still bish-bash-boshing through feeble tackle attempts. Carn coaches have been focusing on the tackle area, but we still seem to be allergic to tackling low (yours truly included) – Reuben Duracell & Tom Caveman Goff are excluded from this particular criticism.

Tries from James Lomulegs Baker & Ieuan Vic Parsons brought Carn to within one score with less than 10 minutes to go. OT’s were under the cosh, but sensing the win. With less than 5 to go, Carn had an attacking scrum 5 yards from OT’s line & a last ditch attempt to get a potentially match-winning try. OT’s were being driven back over their own line, only for the ref to blow up for a knock-on as Josh B touched the ball down. It’s safe to say that not everyone agreed with him, but a ref’s word is gospel. From the subsequent scrum, OT’s got the ball out asap & kicked it to touch – Game over & no-one could argue they were good value for the win.

STAND OUT PLAYER(s):

A strangely subdued performance overall, but for his scrummaging & hooking performance, Dan The Beast Bateman gets the nod