Wednesday 10th January 2018.
Year 10 advance in the Swansea schools’ cup.
The Gowerton and Bishop Gore year 10 squads pose for a photograph after the game.
Year 10 hang on after Bishop Gore fight back.
Gowerton year 10: 38 Bishop Gore year 10: 32.
Gowerton got their post Christmas fixtures underway when they hosted Bishop Gore at the Elba in the first round of the Swansea schools’ cup.
Having been defeated with the last move of the match in last year’s final, Gowerton started the game in determined mood. The two sides were well matched at forward with prop Jack Cawsey-Williams and lock Daniel Thompson both carrying strongly for the visitors, whilst the home side were on top in the contact area with hooker Jamie Parry, No.8 Darragh Cahill and flanker Leo Pietrapertosa all achieving turnovers.
Behind the scrum, Gowerton had the edge with half backs Matthew Davies and Kieron Bevan using possession intelligently, centres Alex Graham-Woollard and Teigue Williams ran excellent lines and varied their distribution allowing the back three of Sam Cartwright, Morgan Couch and man of the match Tom Richards to be a constant threat.
The hosts were on the board in the 2nd minute when a good offload by lock Sam Terry released centre Graham-Woollard, he was tackled just short of the line, but fly half Bevan was on hand to gather and dive over. Four minutes later, a fine sweeping move which involved many of the team, ended when wing Morgan Couch sprinted clear from 30 metres out. Fly half Bevan added the extras.
In the 11th minute, strong running by hooker Parry and No. 8 Cahill allowed Bevan to dot down between the posts, he added the extras to stretch the lead to 19 points.
Gowerton crossed twice more in the next 10 minutes. In the 14th minute hooker Parry powered over for a try his strong personal performance deserved, then in the 21st minute fly half Bevan completed his hat-trick when he scored after fine approach work from wing Sam Cartwright. Bevan added one conversion.
The hosts appeared in total control, but Bishop Gore weren’t prepared to go down without a fight and they opened their account on the stroke of half time when wings Sam Seppings and Breno Davies combined to allow a score in the corner.
Buoyed by the confidence of this score and with half backs Luca Caplin and Olly Trubey increasingly influential they enjoyed their best spell of the game in the next quarter. In the 35th minute elusive running by full back Evan Thomas resulted in a second try that doubled the visitors’ tally and it was well and truly ‘game on’ 3 minutes later when Trubey and Caplin combined to put wing Seppings over.
The hosts responded positively and a fine run by wing Tom Richards allowed centre Graham-Woollard to cross beneath the posts. Fly half Bevan again added the extras to take his personal points haul to 23 points and stretch Gowerton’s lead to a similar margin.
Bishop Gore’s spirited fight back was not going to be dampened by that score and with 10 minutes to go wing Breno Davies showed a fine turn of pace to sprint over from 40 metres. A fine offload by fly half Caplin allowed his half back partner Trubey to score and with prop Jack Cawsey-Williams adding the conversion the visitors were well and truly in the ascendancy and pushed for another score which arrived when a cross kick by fly half Caplin was well gathered by wing Seppings who sprinted 30 metres to score.
The final whistle followed and an excellent game that saw both sides crossing for 6 tries was decided by the goalkicking of Gowerton’s Kieron Bevan. Gowerton advance to the next round but both sides took great credit from their performances.
