Wednesday 25th October 2017
Gowerton 1st XV battle to notable win.
Gowerton School 1st XV: 18 Christ College, Brecon 1st XV: 12.
The Gowerton & Christ College squads with Mrs Pam Evans and Referee Jonathan Walters.
Gowerton School 1st XV entertained Christ College, Brecon in the annual Robert Evans memorial match at Gowerton RFC.
This was the seventh occasion a game had been held to celebrate the life and values of the much respected former Head of PE with Christ College having been involved in the previous five. The hosts’ victory last year was their first in the fixture.
The visitors arrived in confident mood having won their first five games of the season with their only reverse being a narrow loss at Hereford Cathedral School in their last game.
A healthy crowd of several hundred assembled to watch, amongst them were former pupils Dan Biggar, Sam Davies, Keelan Giles as well as Will Jones and Phil Jones who had both been members of the Wales under 20s squad that had played in the World Cup in Georgia last summer.
A healthy crowd of several hundred assembled to watch.
Some of the schools’ talented former fly halves; Phil Jones (Wales under 20s), Sam Davies, Dan Biggar and Gwilym Ayre and some old chap who decided to ‘photobomb’ the picture.
At kick off, the ground looked a picture under the floodlights and with a clear night and breathless skies, conditions were ideal for rugby. It was clear that the College had a distinct physical advantage and the hosts were going to have their work cut out if they were going to come out on top physically.
The visitors kicked off, and with the hosts’ forwards in determined mood they took the game to the College with hooker Ben Brown, lock Ben Grunhut and back row forwards Tim Perkins and Matthew Hutchinson all carrying strongly. They made light of the size difference taking the game to the College and in the 4th minute, with year 11 props Ethan Hall and Kai Pressdee exerting pressure at the scrum, they won a penalty for a set piece infringement which scrum half Iwan Jones slotted from 20 metres.
Gowerton’s scrum won the penalty that opened the scoring.
Christ College responded immediately and with hooker Harry Roberts and No.8 Archie Trevethan to the fore they put the hosts on the back foot and in the 8th minute scrum half Will Bush nipped down the blindside of a ruck and crossed for the game’s first try.
Both sides were looking to keep the ball in hand at every opportunity, but the defensive work of both sides was unflinching. For Gowerton, flanker Perkins and No.8 Hutchinson were outstanding whilst the midfield defence of fly half Dexter Ryde and centres Cameron Clayfield and James Northey refused to buckle to the hard running lines of the visitors. For College, half backs Bush and fly half Huw Thomas and No.8 Trevethan were similarly resilient.
Iwan Jones, Tim Perkins and Matthew Hutchinson force an error.
Gowerton regained the lead in the 17th minute when the visitors were penalised just outside their 22 for entering a ruck from the side and scrum half Jones stepped up to give his side the narrowest of leads.
Defences continued to dominate for the next quarter and both sides relied on the impressive kicking of their half backs to gain them field position and with Gowerton’s Ryde and Jones getting the better of their opposite numbers they were able to establish a position deep in the visitors’ 22. When College were penalised in the final minute of the half. Gowerton opted to kick for the corner. A well orchestrated catch and drive was followed by surges from prop Hall, hooker Brown and No.8 Hutchinson and with the College fringe defence stretched to breaking point scrum half Jones took advantage and drove over for a try that he added the extras to. Half time followed and Gowerton’s lead was 13-5.
Iwan Jones (buried under the bodies) scores our first try.
It was the visitors who started the second half on the front foot and with fly half Thomas varying the attacking angles intelligently and full back Tom Richards a constant threat with ball in hand they pressed for the next score. Gowerton’s defence was stretched to limit and on one occasion it took an excellent tackle from full back and captain Max Treharne to deny them when a try looked certain.
On the back foot, the hosts were in need of inspiration and found it in the form of an outstanding team try in the 50th minute. Flanker Lewis Grove secured quick off the top lineout possession on their ’22. With the visitors’ rush defence proving difficult to breach, fly half Ryde intelligently chipped into the space behind the onrushing defence, centre Clayfield did well to recover the awkwardly bouncing ball, he was tackled on half way but co-centre Northey was in support to take his offload, he took the ball into the 22 and when the scramble defence got back to tackle him wing Lewis Hyatt gathered his pass and sprinted to dive over in the corner. The conversion drifted wide.
The pattern remained the same with the visitors continuing to push for a score and the hosts’ defence refusing to yield. However, they weren’t going to be denied for ever and with just under 10 minutes left on the clock, lock Harry Edwards powered over. Fly half Thomas added the extras and it was very much ‘game on’.
Gowerton’s influential half backs; Iwan Jones (with ball) and Dexter Ryde.
But Gowerton were not going to be denied a notable victory and with man of the match No.8 Hutchinson and replacements John Edwards, Rhys Flower, Matthew Newcombe and Charlie Smith adding to the defensive effort, their line remained in tact and at full time the hosts retained their lead in a game that was a great credit to schools’ rugby and from which both sides could take great credit.
A collection taken at the game, raised over £400 for Macmillan Cancer and the Gowerton Surgery equipment fund.
Photographs: Mr. Mark Wells.
