Fixture

Match Report:           25th November 2018 – Chepstow v Cwmbran (Home)

Team – Flynn ©, Otis (Scrum Half), Zach, Xander, Tomas, Tomos, Owen, Amelie, Will A, Will D, Kameli, Osian, Harry, Jonty

Its off, it’s on, its off – its back on again……..Good work Coach Ben for getting the fixture; a challenging game had, and the team are all the better for it.

And so, it was Cwmbran at home on a cold winter’s morning, but importantly, there was no rain to be seen.  spirits were high, parents were dry… this is living alright! 

The team warmed up with some basic passing along the line, but balls were spilled, fumbled and generally out of control… Coaches thought this could be a long day.

Cwmbran arrived mid drill sporting black and white. how dare they :)) – Chepstow Jerseys turned inside out and we’re off.  Players that trained this week got us going with Flynn as captain (last weeks’ player of the match).  Cwmbran got the game started, and they made ground straight off the whistle. Some big lads smashing through a seemingly unprepared Chepstow defence.  The first 5 minutes of play was all Cwmbran, pass and charge technique was working well with Chepstow players unable to make a clean tackle.  First try to Cwmbran.

From the restart Chepstow looked as if they’d woken up, passing the ball wide and making some ground up with direct running from Tomas B and Amelie.  Cwmbran were combatting this with some direct running of their own, though their discipline was lacking at times.  The ref had cause to penalise for handing-off which slowed the momentum of play in Chepstow’s favour.  Our U9s were effective in moving the ball wide with timely off-loading to recover some lost ground.  On the back of this phase of play it was today’s scrum half Otis who was first to get a try for Chepstow – one-one.

From this restart, Cwmbran looked strong, with big players (boy looked about 16 ;-)) – battering through Chepstow defence.  Tackling needs some work in training, as the team weren’t getting low enough to stop the larger stronger players… all bar Will A, who took the mountain to task with a splendid tackle to save a try. well done Will!

Following this some poor discipline creeped in from Chepstow, resorting to ‘gang-tackling’ in order to keep Cwmbran from scoring.  Score though they did, two-one going into half time.

Half time changes brought Osian, Kameli, Xander and Jonty on to the pitch, fresh legs!  The team started well, moving the ball wide and making some good ground.  Otis ran his second over shortly after the restart get the scores equal at two apiece. It wasn’t long however before Cwmbran hit back and took it to three - two!  The game was tense, Cwmbran continued to break tackles to get within an inch of the line, only to give a turn over due to poor discipline. Chepstow hit back with some expansive passing and direct running to break Cwmbran’s defensive line.  A high tackle ended a strong run from Flynn, but the advantage was with Chepstow who moved the ball across the pitch to Zack who ran a try in the corner.

And that was the way it ended. Three - three – a close contest, where the size and strength of Cwmbran was just about met by the expansive passing and offloading of Chepstow. – Well played

Player of the match:  Tomas Briley, not a foot wrong in this game with great direct running of the start.

Positive:

• Expansive passing, moving the ball across the line and offloading in the tackle.
• Some great individual tackling from some players (Will A).
• Tenacity – heads never went down!

Development areas:

• Tackling the big guys – Technique needed to keep it low and safe.
• Avoid the gang-tackle.

Neither Chepstow RFC or U8 Coaching Staff confirm the accuracy of this match report.