Rugby: Exciting battle closely fought

Oct 11 2007 by Our Correspondent, Merthyr Express

Trinant 15 Ynysowen 13

TRINANT started the brighter, moving the ball around and attacking from all areas.

But the visiting scrum was on top, with the front row of Morris, Williams and Davies doing some good work in disrupting the opposition ball.

Trinant took the lead with a penalty before some poor tackling by the visitors allowed the home side to score under the posts which was converted.

Ynysowen now moved the ball and passing between forwards and backs pressured the home defence into conceding a penalty which Wathen converted.

A further Wathen penalty reduced the arrears at half-time to 10-6.

The crucial score arrived just after the break when Trinant scrum half Roberts juggled the ball behind a retreating scrum.

This seemed to flat-foot the Ynysowen defence and Roberts was able to sprint clear and score.

The rest of the half was a mixture of Ynysowen pressure and counter-attacking by Trinant.

The visitors spoilt a lot of good work by not being accurate enough with the final pass.

Paul and Andrew Jones were winning good line-out possession, which allowed the visitors to press for the score to bring them back into the game.

After a series of forward drives, Gethin King forced his way over near the posts for a score which Wathen converted.

However it came too late.

This Saturday sees Ynysowen return to league action with a home match against Cardiff side Llanrumney.

They also hope to welcome back a number of injured players to increase competition for places.