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03 March 2019 / Team News

Cae goes close with a Tyler made performance

Cae go close with a Tyler made performance!

Llanishen 33-21 Caerphilly

Our first ever trip to Llanishen. Rumours beforehand had indicated that we might be playing a team with a very particular set of skills. Skills they had acquired over a long mini and junior rugby career. Skills that make them a nightmare for other rugby teams...

I’m sure it’s just an urban legend but some folk say they’ve even beaten Pontypool United... whatever the truth may be, it was pretty certain that we were heading into the Llanishen Lions den and nothing but a performance brimming with character, determination and sang froid that would make James Bond blush with embarrassment would suffice today......

First half: Llanishen 26-14 Cae

From the kick off Sawyer made a cracking tackle on the catcher and this seemed to set the tone for the day as the boys produced a much improved tackling display.

Llanishen probed for the break through , launching an attack from deep, but strong Cae tackling stopped them in their tracks. We showed real resilience in the first ten minutes.

Once we’d weathered the storm we attacked ourselves, our scrum was once again, completely dominant, shoving the opposition off the ball at will. Forget the old Pontypool front row, Ross/Lewis/Jayden are the names that are on everyone’s lips these days.

A penalty led to a line out and a great blindside move led to Charlie beating several defenders to go over for the first try. Tom converted beautifully from a difficult angle.

Llanishen, as you would expect from such a strong side, came straight back, they had a lightening quick, long-legged winger who started to do some damage and they scored three quick tries to get us on the back foot.

Unbowed though, we didn’t flinch, with some strong running from Tom E and Kody in the backs setting up Ross to crash over and get the try his work rate deserved. Tom converted.

It looked like we were about to level things as half time approached, but a turnover near their line led to that winger braking free to score again against the run of play.

Second half: Llanishen 33-21 Caerphilly

Our boys matched Llanishen this half, going toe to toe in a slugfest that was the rugby equivalent of Ali v Frazier....

Tyler marshalled the troops superbly like Napoleon at the battle of Marengo, as Llanishen found themselves befuddled like those Austrian troops of yesteryear. He knew when to keep it tight and when to widen the play and didn’t shirk a tackle either.

There was no quarter asked nor given as both sides gave their all. All of the boys gave everything, competing for the ball as if it was a lone taxi at chucking out time at the Camelot in the late 1980s.

Llanishen forced their way over after a great run from their star player, the openside flanker, before we hit back for the final score of the day, when some insouciant running by Tommy L set up Big Lew to crash over for a well deserved score. Tom L converted to round off a faultless kicking day for him.

One last incident saw young Sawyer hurled to the ground American wrestling style, the referee dealt with the situation correctly and amazingly Sawyer carried on playing....he’s much tougher than his Dad (and he’s so tough, he’s about to run from London to Brighton!)....so pretty tough..

Man of the Match

Was Tyler, for a superb demonstration of the scrum half art. When asked what he put his incredible performance down to, he replied: “I wanted to cheer up coach Mark, it can’t have been easy for him last week, watching his beloved England rugby team completely outplayed by this wonderful Welsh side”. “I mean, he must have been so disappointed with their one trick pony kicking game, didn’t they know how good Liam Williams was?” Wise words indeed. Onwards and upwards...

from my iPad

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