Year 9 march on in Welsh Cup quest.
Gowerton year 9: 38Treorchy: 12.
Rhys Evans with great support from Tom Northey and Steffan Gibbon leaps to steal a lineout.
Doubles by Liney and Giles see Gowerton advance to the last 16.
Gowerton hosted Treorchy in the first knock out stage of the Welsh Cup, and with both teams having qualified undefeated out of their groups, a tough game was expected by both.
With most other games in the local area postponed due to frost, the hosts were grateful for the support of Gowerton RFC that allowed the game to go ahead and at kick off, the ground was perfect and with the sun shining brightly and only a light breeze blowing, things appeared well set for running and handling.
Gowerton kicked off, but it was the visitors who settled first and with fly half Declan Williams kicking intelligently, they enjoyed the greater share of territory and possession. However, in the 12th minute, it was the hosts who opened the scoring, when a good kick by fly half Philip Jones put Gowerton on the attack, powerful drives by prop Morgan Morris, No.8 Jack Cambriani and lock Steffan Gibbon commited the Treorchy defence and when the ball was spread to the backs centre Jordon Liney offloaded cleverly for wing Keelan Giles to cross.
Keelan Giles crosses for the opening try after Jordon Liney’s offload.
With the confidence of this score behind them, Gowerton now began to dominate and they added a second try in the 17th minute when good work from the forwards, with flankers Rhys Evans and Will Jones outstanding, allowed centre Liney to show his pace when he broke the defensive line 30 metres out and sprinted to score beneath the posts. Centre Tom Howell added the conversion.
Jordon Liney sprints clear….……
and crosses for Gowerton’s second try.
Treorchy, possessed some powerful forwards and an impressive fly half in Williams and with Gowerton conceding penalties regularly, the visitors cut the deficit just before half time when Williams tapped a penalty quickly and powered through some weak tackles to score a try he converted himself. It took two excellent tackles from man of the match wing Olly Smith, to ensure the hosts retained the lead and leave the game very much in the balance at the break.
The hosts came out with renewed vigour in the second half and stretched their lead in the 31stminute, when the impressive Evans won another lineout, the ball was spread wide quickly and centre Howell outstripped the visitors’ defence to score a try he converted himself.
Further tries came in the 34thand 39th minutes. The first came after captain Will Jones secured a turnover on halfway, the ball was kicked ahead and centre Liney gathered and crossed. The second was a fine individual effort from full back Giles, who chipped ahead and gathered to sprint from halfway to score. Howell added the extra points to both tries.
Treorchy, weren’t going down without a fight and Williams crossed for his second try in the 42ndminute. However, it was the hosts who had the final say when excellent interpassing with fly half Jones prominent allowed wing Steffan Tyrrell to cross in the final minute.
Tom Howell reaches high to gather a pass from Keelan Giles.
Tom looks to outstrip the defence-but put the ball in your outside arm, Tom!
No need to worry, Tom has the pace to beat the defenders and score.
After the game, the draw was made for the next round and Gowerton are to travel to North Wales to play Ysgol John Bright.
Photographs: Connor Brannan yr 9:
