From the start Taff’s Well had the territorial advantage and looked a powerful unit up front. They pressurised the Blacks and at times, Burry Port Rugby Club struggled to contain a powerful Taff’s Well pack who scored the opening try after 5 minutes following a catch and drive. The Blacks responded and held on to possession and drove up field and were awarded a penalty with Ben Williams hitting the post with his kick. Another penalty soon followed and Williams slotted over the kick to make the score 5-3. Burry Port’s defence was again under pressure and a perfectly weighted grubber kick and chase saw another try for Taff’s Well to extend their lead to 12-3. Things could have been worse but last ditch tackles from Dan Etteridge, Luke Rudall, Duane Evans, Oliver Dunleavy and Llyr Sims who combined in preventing certain try scoring opportunities to make the half time score 12-3.
Taff’s Well were first to score in the second half from a penalty and it was crucial that Burry Port needed to score next with the score at 15-3. The second half was a more even affair and as time progressed the momentum clearly swung in favour of the Blacks, and with some good ball retention and exciting running rugby, Burry Port were awarded a penalty for repeated infringements at the breakdown. Williams slotted over the kick to close the gap to 15-6. Taff’s Well struck back and were awarded a penalty to extend their lead to 18-6, but as the game opened up it was noticeable that their big pack was struggling with the pace of the game and they needed to introduce their bench to try to contain the Blacks who were coming into the game and producing try scoring chances.
Burry Port Rugby Club’s player coach Gareth Gravell made a huge impact from the bench and was solid in defence and the team grew in confidence around him. Now it was Taff’s Well who had to defend their line, and with a series of high tackles they placed themselves under pressure by conceding penalties and yellow cards. A charge up field saw Gareth Gravell pick up close to the line and drive over for a well deserved try, and with Williams converting the Blacks were right back in the game at 18-13. Another drive up field saw Taff’s Well pull down the maul illegally and Burry Port took full advantage with a kick to the corner. The Blacks were now on top and the 700 travelling supporters raised the noise levels to spur them towards the line.
Repeated try scoring attempts were repelled by Taff’s Well, with Ben Williams and Iwan Roberts going close, but they were turned over and they cleared their line. It was going to take something special to get the try and skipper Dan Etteridge opened up the Taff’s Well defence with a clever cross kick and full back Adam Rudall gathered the ball and fed to Second Row Bryn Jenkins to charge forward to be brought down by a desperate and scrambling defence, quick ball created an overlap out wide for Darren Daniel who drew 3 cover defenders before slipping a neat overhead inside pass to the supporting Stef Powell to dive over in the corner. Williams added the difficult conversion to put Burry Port ahead 20-18 for the first time in the match on 74 minutes. With the supporters cheering a tense 6 minutes saw the Blacks holding off repeated attacks with replacement flanker Tom Rees prominent and when Hooker Iwan Roberts held up Taff’s Well and created a maul the Burry Port pack came in to support him and halt the charge and the ref had no choice but to blow the final whistle to make the players officials and supporters of Burry Port RFC ecstatic and make it a day the people of Burry Port will never forget.
Final Score Burry Port Rugby Club 20 – 18 Taff’s Well. Broadcasters Man of the Match Burry Port’s Richard Parker.
Burry Port RFC’s website
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