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Cobras edged out by young firm!

Mountain Ash 22-12 Cobras

On a day that would have had Noah back in the boat building workshop, we head off to play the young firm.  

Mountain Ash have had many Welsh internationals over the years,  perhaps most famously, George Travers, rugby’s  first specialist hooker.

Without either fly half available, this was bound to be a challenge for the boys in green.


First half:  Mountain Ash 17-5 Cobras

The young firm are a very impressive team, they were simply too good for us in this half. The young firm caught the kick off, we missed some tackles and they were soon in our half, this set the tone for the rest of the half, their handling was exemplary today, whilst we struggled in the conditions.

Deep in our own half, we throw a loose pass and it’s a knock on.. they look likely to score, but Harry Evs gets one of his trademark turnovers.. it’s only a brief respite though as they come back at us, go through the phases and score. Try converted.

Our set piece, against a big pack, was again excellent today.  We were dominant in the scrums throughout, winning a couple of penalties, all credit to the coaches for their excellent work, we are well drilled.

The mountain ash fly half, was superb today and he controlled proceedings, setting up their second try with a beautiful chip to the corner 👏. Watch out for him in future years, we will be seeing plenty of him.

These Cobras don’t know the meaning of the word quit though, and fight right back, off the back of our strong scrum, we attack across the pitch, the ball comes to Cam and he sets off to the wing, Mountain Ash are excellent tacklers throughout the team, but even they can’t stop a flying Cam and he goes in to score. 

We are getting back into this now, but…a pass is intercepted, their centre is surely going to score…no, Cam has come from nowhere and stopped him just by the line…incredible!  Mountain Ash gather in numbers though, recycle the ball and score just on half time.

Second half: Mountain Ash 22-12 Cobras

The second half was much better, as we adjusted to the weather conditions and played with real passion.

Shane didn’t stop battling all game, only some excellent tackling had kept him from scoring up until…he picks the ball up with the try line in the distance, he shimmies one way then the other, as opponents fall in the mud, he has a mass of defenders around him, but a shake of those snake hips and he’s through, sprinting and fighting for every inch, he scores in the corner…well done Elvis, perfect ground conditions for those blue seuede shoes…

Shane is going to attempt the conversion too, it’s a terrible angle by the touchline, miles out and his first ever attempt at taking one.. Jenson, standing by me says “It wouldn’t surprise me if he just walked up and kicked it over”.  I chuckle, replying “even Dan Biggar would struggle to get that over in these conditions, never mind someone having their first go”. …. Shane walks up and knocks it right through the centre of the posts…..

We are right back in this now, one more try will win it..but, we give away a succession of penalties and from a lineout in the corner, the young firm produce a clever line out play straight from the training ground, as they pretend to set up a maul before their brilliant flanker peels away to score their fourth and final try to seal the game.

Well played to both teams, superb performance Mountain Ash 👏 an excellent game in the horrific conditions and lots to work on in our training sessions this week.

Love and hisses

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