After last weeks excellent performance against Caerleon, Abertillery posed another serious threat to the unbeaten sequence of games that the U14's are stringing together.
On a bright but cold morning the team were a little lethargic during the warm up and this unfortunately continued into the start of the game.
From the first scrum of the game Abertillery were on the front foot and quick ball enabled their outside centre to score under the posts without a hand being laid upon an Abertillery player. With the conversion being added, Abertillery had their confidence boosted and continued to play all the rugby. Chepstow has several opportunities to clear their lines but kept turning over ball in contact and another mistake led to an Abertillery scrum 5m out. With a dominant scrum that went forward and kept our back row tied in, their No 8 picked up and crossed the line without being challenged. The conversion was missed but Abertillery were deservedly 12-0 ahead.
Chepstow hadn't started the game yet and were being beaten in every collision. The team talked about keeping possession, playing the game in the correct areas of the pitch and getting our ball carriers to give the team some go forward.
Intensity levels at the breakdown improved and penalties were conceded by the opposition, which led to several strong runs into the heart of the opposition. Better body positions in the contact are meant that quicker ball being presented for the supporting players. The ever alert Briden picked up from the base and drove over for our first score of the game. Ben added an excellent conversion from a difficult position out wide. Score 12-7.
Having got ourselves back into the game we continued to give away penalties which allowed Abertillery to gain possession deep into our half. A Chepstow defensive lineout which should have been held and driven to give out half backs time to execute our exit. Instead we played the ball off the top and placed ourselves under pressure. This resulted in an attacking 5m scrum and again the oppostion got the upper hand and the No 8 picked up and crossed for another try making the score 17-7.
With only 5 mins left in the half we could not afford to concede again and needed to score to get ourselves back into the game. Josh Morgan was solid in defence and whenever the ball was was kicked he was confident under the high ball and carried the ball with real purpose back to the opposition. This allowed our forwards to win fast ball and get our backs attacking the opposition. Josh scored Chepstows' next try with another typical strong run down the left. He outpaced the defence to leave Ben with another difficult conversion. Ben made no mistake and made the score 17-14 to the visitors.
With time running out in the half, strong defence and good line speed created turnover ball that allowed Will Supple to pick the ball up, beat the last defender and score a try that allowed us to take the lead for the first time. Ben again added the extra points with a great kick from the right hand side of the pitch and we entered half time 21-17 up.
During the break we spoke about the score and everyone felt that the lead was undeserved and work rates and intensity levels needed to be increased. Substitutions were made with several players finding themselves in unfamiliar roles due to a couple of injuries that meant players could not continue.
Playing against a strong wind we knew that we would have to look after the ball better and be patient in our attack and disciplined in defence.
Unfortunately a string of penalties were conceded that allowed Abertillery a foothold in our half. From a driving lineout where all our defenders were drawn into the maul the scrum half took the ball and scored unopposed in the corner. The conversion was missed but Abertillery were now in front 22-21.
What was pleasing was that Chepstow responded really well to going behind. Several strong carries by Nathan, Joe Clough and Jayden Williams put us on the front foot. This allowed Roman to move the ball quickly from contact and allow the backs to move forward on to the ball. Good distribution from Ben, Steven and Kieran stretched the defensive cover. More forward drives closer to the line, sucked in more defenders before quick hands from Will Morgan allowed Taylor to score in the corner. Ben missed a difficult conversion, his first of the day. Score 26-22.
Chepstow were now playing as a unit and everyone was committed to a strong defensive effort. Macsyn worked tirelessly throughout the game in defence and turnover ball and quick hands allowed Nathan to receive the ball in space and with typical aggression started to make yards by outstripping the cover defence. Will Morgan now playing in the unfamiliar role of full back made an excellent supporting run and received an offload from Nathan. With a couple of defenders to beat, Will stepped inside to score an excellent team try. An excellent attempt from Ben narrowly missed adding the extra points. Importantly we were now 2 scores clear at 31-22.
We should have closed the game out but let Abertillery score with the final play of the game to make the final score 31-27. This try again again conceded down the blind side. Something we may need to look at in training.
Positives from the day, was that this was a real squad effort. With players missing through injury, illness and unavailability, everyone stepped up and took responsibility for their own performance. The team showed real character to come back from 17-7 deep into the first half and going behind midway through the 2nd half.
A number of players played in several positions today. It was really good to see their attitude at being asked to do this. No one complained and got on with it.
Things to work on in training.
Well done everyone. This was a good win against an organised team.
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