Fixture

RGC | 1st Team 15 - 21 Bedwas RFC | 1st Team
Afon Bagshaw
Try 1
Sam Jones
Try 1
Jacob Nikkola Kenny Botica
Conversion 1
Penalty 1
Patric Lewis
1 Try
Joseph Davies
1 Try
Richard Powell
1 Conversion
3 Penalty

Match Report
18 March 2017 / Team News

Beaten by Bedwas

Mark Jones was left frustrated after his side suffered a home defeat against Bedwas. “Both halves were fairly similar and our lack of accuracy let Bedwas off the hook. They are a big powerful side, so we wanted to shift the ball and move them around but we failed to do that. The game was fairly stop start and the set piece became crucial. Bedwas were solid in the set piece and we couldn’t match them in the contact area.

“They boys have over achieved this season and in the games we have lost we have not played to the standard needed to compete in this league. Bedwas finished 2nd before the Principality Premiership split, so they are a good side and were smarter in execution today.”

“We will learn from this defeat, as we have done all season and things are fixable. We can look forward to a Cup Semi-Final next week against Merthyr.  Although we have beaten them twice this season we are still underdogs, especially following them putting over 70 points on Llandovery today. We will get back to basics this week in training in preparation for Saturday”

RGC had the better of the opening 10 minutes as they looked to find some space and run at the visitor’s line, but only had a Jacob Botica penalty as reward for the possession

Afon Bagshaw was on the front foot, and was running the ball with some intent.  Botica had another penalty attempt from halfway but couldn’t hit the target.

As the 20 minute mark rolled on the game had lost any flow and it was becoming an arm wrestle around the breakdown.

The advantage swung in Bedwas favour when the referee judged that Josh Leach had failed to control the tackle and was given a yellow card.  This sparked the visitors into attack as they sensed an opportunity to score, and for the first time in the match reached the RGC 22 meter line.

As much as RGC defended well, they were poor in execution when they had the ball.  This was seen when they had a line out in Bedwas 22 meter line but lost it and the south Wales side broke away down the pitch.

They repeated the mistake minutes later with another poor line-out and territory was lost again.

The positive of not conceding when down to 14 men then shifted when Bedwas centre Mike Callow was given a yellow card and the Gogs looked for that try.

It was a case of attack after attack as RGC edged closer to the Bedwas line, but they couldn’t break over the whitewash.

Bedwas ended the 40 minutes looking for the try and it was some strong RGC tackling that prevented them scoring in a fairly disappointing half for the Eirias side.

The 2nd half started with an Alex Schwarz run, with Josh Leach also making some gain-line breaks but it was Bedwas who claimed the first try when Patric Lewis grabbed the 5 points.

Much of the focus was turning to the scrum and some great savaging work from Will Bryan gave RGC an opportunity to spring an attack.  Afon Bagshaw was the man to spark the backline and he found the space to out run the chasing tacklers to score. Botica kicked the conversion.

Tiaan Loots was attempting his trademark running, but on the occasions he had the ball the space around him was closed down by some quick defence.

The boot of Richard Powell kept Bedwas in the game with a couple of penalties as they edged into an 11-10 lead.

It was looking more likely that the visitors would score, and with some good ball in hand and strong running they opened up RGC for Joseph Davies to dive over in the corner. Powell hit the conversion.

In typical RGC fashion the players responded to that try with some well worked phase play, and it showed when they moved the ball they were at their best.

Sam Jones raced down the wing before his pass was caught by Leach who returned the favour for the winger to score.

The wind was taken out the crowd’s excitement when Bedwas were giving a penalty minutes later and based on his form Powell hit another great kick to push them 7 points ahead.

RGC pushed on searching for another last minute winning score, but credit to Bedwas they soaked up the pressure and forced a crucial penalty from the scrum to clear the ball and claim the victory.

 

 

 

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