Fixture

On saturday 20th May the Ladies Blacks travelled to Bedwas RFC for the Final of the WRU National Bowl.

Even though most people would have had Burry Port down as the underdogs as thier oppentents Abergele play in a division above them  there was a quiet sence of confidence from the management team and players.

The day was set from the off,  as the players arrived in the club at 11:30 they were greeted by a mass of supporters who had decided to show up early to cheer the girls off to the final, a geusture of support that was not lost on the girls and the news that there were also in excess of 250 supporters  making the journey to Bedwas only served as an extra boost to the team.

The game itself was a fast and open affair with both teams playing their part in a great final. Abergele got off to the better start, attacking straight from the opening kick off and spending the opening 5 minutes pounding at the Burry Port try line. It took an almighty defence effort to keep the scores at 0-0 and to turn the ball over and clear up field.

When Burry Port did get thier hands on the ball they looked sharp and dangerous in attack, with full back Rhian Jenkins producing some lovely off loads and scrum half Keely Evans always asking questions of Abergele defence.

The Burry Port pack was dominating the scrums with front rowers Kelly Gravell, Alana Borthwick and Amber Phillips all putting in a shift that they could be proud of.

First score of the day went to Burry Port, from a turnover at lineout on the half way line the ball was spread to the backs and with good hands from centres Bowen and Marshall put Fullback Jenkins into space and racing for the tryline, a great cover tackle halted her just before the try line but a brilliant offload to supporting outside half Eleri Williams seen her cross for a well deserved try. 5-0.

Abergele got themselves right back into the game with some good kicking getting them a foothold in the Burry Port 22 and from a set move at lineout managed to slice the defence apart and score under the posts and with the successful conversion took the lead. 7-5.

Almost immeditaly from the kick off a good hit on the Abergele prop sent the ball loose and after an instinctive fly hack from Catrina Bowen seen the ball bounce into her hands and she outpaced the cover defence to stroll under the posts, successfully converted to make it 12-7.

The rest of the half Burry Port continued to hold the upper hand with every player contributing and putting thier body on the line and with the travelling support in full voice and acting as a 16th player an upset was on the cards.

Half Time .Abergele 7 Burry Port 12

The first 15 minutes of the 2nd half continued to go Burry Ports way with Abergele struggling to contain some strong running ball carriers from Burry Port and Openside Betsan Williams and 2nd Row Rox Perego putting in some massive work rate to halt any abergele attacks.

Burry Ports 3rd try again started with a turnover off Abergele ball this time at the scrum, a powerful drive resulted in a penalty and with a quick tap and go Burry Port were off attacking the try line and after another infringement from Abergele and quick thinking from Keely Evans with another quick tap seen her dance her way over the tryline from 5m out. Score now 7 - 17.

The Lady Blacks were now coasting and looking confident in attack and defence and went on the serach for another try to finish the game off. 

A couple of changes from the Blacks and some fresh legs from the replacements bench brought some energy in attack and after some good hands they managed to put Catrina Bowen in space to power her way over for her 2nd try of the game. Evans added the difficult conversion to make it 24-7 and only 15 mins to go.

The game looked as if it was as good as over and after Burry Port almost scored another try it looked as maybe Abergele were about to roll over and conceed defeat. But how wrong that turned out to be.

Another couple of changes to the Burry Port team and some urgency from the Abergele Ladies saw a remarkable turnaround.

The Abergele backs started to throw the ball around and were finding space at will. A line break from deep resulted in them surging up field for a well taken try close to the uprights but the conversion went just wide.

Soon after another break outwide almost resulted in a try but s with some last ditch tackling kept the tryline intact. Abergele were awarded a penalty which seemed an easy 3 points but only for the kicker to pull it wide and let Burry Port off the hook. With time running out and some of the Burry Port Ladies falling off tackles the pressure continued to build and it told with another try from Abergele to close the gap to 17-24 but again the conversion sailed wide.

Five Minutes to go and Burry Port were definitly starting to panic and needed someone to step up to the mark and stop Abergele in thier tracks. Luckily Burry Port had a couple of players who did just that Loose head prop Kelly Gravell put two massive hits in to give the Blacks a much needed lift, Betsan Williams and Alanah Powell combined to stop another certain try and everyone else just kept throwing their bodies in front of attackers.

The referree signaled last play and with Abergele thgrowing everything at Burry Port and breaking away again seemed to have worked a way clear to score again only for a brilliant cover tackle from opensider Williams halting them just short and after some close range rucks Burry Ports Prop Gravell again produced an outstanding turnover at the ruck and was reewarfed with a penalty to the whole teams relief. The ball was booted into  touch and the wild celebrations began with all the traveling support running onto the pitch to congratulate the Girls.

Final Score Abergele 17- 24 Burry Port 

Player of the Match - Kelly Gravell