Fixture

Head Coach Mark Jones gave praise to his players after they ran in 7 tries against Bargoed. “It was really pleasing as we headed into the game with a plan to play some high tempo rugby and we got our rewards. We knew if we kept the pressure and intensity then after 50 minutes we would be in a good position to get some scores and that was the case today.”

“We gave the ultimate respect to Bargoed this week in the sense on how we trained and our set piece really gave us the platform to play and credit to our forwards today.”

“It was also an opportunity to bring in some players who had been out with injury or that have been knocking on the door in training and they didn’t disappoint. We have some pace in that backline which will always cause problems.  I thought Rhys Williams was superb today and the pack worked hard all game.”

Fly-half Jacob Botica scored an impressive 29 points as his side racked up 7 tries in a 56 to 3 win against Bargoed.

If any of the crowd were worried it was going to be a nightmare start in the opening minute after the visitors hit a penalty from Callum Jones but from that point onwards RGC dominated the territory and possession.

Jacob Botica was involved in a number of the attacks as he was looking to get the ball moving quickly.  Worthington was next to make a break, and his clever offload led to another RGC attack.

Everytime the away side manged to clear the ball, they found it coming straight back with the RGC backline running at them with pace and intent.

Although RGC had the possession they couldn’t get passed the Baroged defence who were putting bodies in the way of all the runs.  It was the boot of Botica that got the points in the board with 3 penalties to give RGC some daylight in the score.

The Gogs went close when Botica kicked a clever cross field kick field ball but winger Aaron Evans couldn’t collect it. 

The try wasn’t far away and it came after an overthrow from the lineout, centre Tiaan Loots got a boot to the ball and as he chased it down he was pulled back and the referee awarded a penalty try. Botica added the conversion.  Not only did the home side have the point’s advantage but they had a man advantage as scrum half James Pizey was yellow carded.

4 minutes later RGC scored another try when Botica and Rhys Williams combined before setting up Loots to run down the pitch to touch down. Another Botica kick extended the lead.

Bargoed had a foray into the Gogs half as the ended the half looking for a score to get them back in the game but the RGC defence was holding firm.

As expected Bargoed came out in the 2^nd half asking some questions but once again the RGC line was looking strong with plenty of tackles ending any attack.

Rhys Williams was playing at centre today and he made an impression with ball in hand, breaking the gain line and driving his side forward.

Both sides were reduced to 14 men when Will Bryan and Greg Carlow were sent to the sin bin, and the extra space on the pitch clearly helped RGC.

Afon Bagshaw collected the ball and started the move that led to the bonus point, the ball was given to Sam Jones and the winger showed his frightening pace down the line before passing to Loots who had the simple job of touching down. Botica’s boot was on song again with the conversion.

That score started a breath taking period as Sam Jones once again ghosted past the defence before shifting the ball to Rhys Williams before a big looping pass enabled Alex Schwarz to score. Botica continued his 100% kicking with the extras before leaving the pitch with a standing ovation.

The RGC scrum was also impressive, and the pack dominated the arm wrestle throughout the 80 minutes.

It was pretty apt that the backline delivered some tricks and plenty of treats to the Eirias crowd with 2 more tries, when Aaron Evans scored his first for RGC with an Afon Bagshaw conversion and then the full-back scored himself to round up a superb attacking game of rugby.