Fixture

Match Report - Caerleon v Caerphilly

KO 11am - Final Score 24-10

A dry spring morning brought out the crowds for a hard fought, end to end match this morning at Caerleon. It was a highly entertaining game with both sides keen to move the ball. The visitors' crisp handling was needed today to make up for the sheer size of the home XV.

The game started positively with a turnover at the first breakdown from Caer and eventually a wonderful box kick from Lewis Adams over the rush defence saw Ellis Hughes following up with strong tackling to force a scrum V. From the Scrum, the ever eager Scott Pritchard made for the corner but alas, 4 tacklers held up the number 8 on the line and the home team cleared their lines. Continued pressure though resulted in a penalty which Will Haley converted for the first score 3-0.

Caerleon eventually gained a penalty of their own and deciding to run, spread the ball wide to take a narrow 5-3 lead. This set the tone for the match with great endeavour and tackling on both sides. Straight running from the likes of Hughes and Bellamy in the centre kept the home team under pressure but a turnover saw Caerleon spread the ball again from deep to release their quick number 18 to score a long range try.

The breakdown was to be real plus for the visitors today however with a good rip by Ioan Hill setting up a clear opportunity - only to see a fantastic repost from Caerleon, halted by a great tackle from Louis Bellamy to save a try at the whistle for half time.

The second half started as the first had ended with Abeishek making some great charging runs to drag in the home defence. Ellis Hughes was called on to make a try saving tackle which he did to the cheers of the sun baked crowd! However, it was the home team who managed to string a wonderful passing move together and score their third try to bring the score to 17-3 with 15 mins to go.

The visitors however never gave up, with first Will Haley and then Abhishek taking the ball up straight which was then set up by Tyler Williams to release Scott Pritchard out wide who ghosted through 2 defenders to score out wide. Haley made the difficult conversion putting the visitors to within 1 score with 10 minutes to go. 17-10.

For a moment, it looked like the game would be tied, with another phase of outstanding passing putting Scott Pritchard through a gap. He was however halted just short and despite the efforts of Wil Lewis in support the home team managed to win a turnover and went the full length to score a breakaway long range try - 24-10 - it felt a bit like the Ireland v Wales interception in the six nations!

Well done to both teams for a very entertaining and free flowing game played in "gloopy" conditions underfoot - the Caer Squad were outstanding and showed themselves that, despite Caerleon being a physically larger team, their skills, determination and support for each other enabled them to compete strongly and almost sneak the win.  #togetherasone

Written By – Warren Lewis