Fixture

WRU LEAGUE DIVISION 1 EAST

Dowlais: 14

Cwmbran: 7

A much needed win for Dowlais this week at home against Cwmbran, with a score of 14-7 to Dowlais.

The first half remained fairly uneventful apart from brief breaks into the Cwmbran twenty-two (the majority of the time either to score or kick a penalty), Dowlais remained on the defensive for a lot of the first half. Despite this they defended well, with Cwmbran not gaining a single point in the first half.

Dowlais showed offensive confidence and competency very early on, with a drive from a scrum bringing them painfully close to the Cwmbran line. Despite failure to score, three points from the awarded penalty made the effort worthwhile.

A nearly identical situation further down the line added three more points to the total and the recent miss of a Cwmbran penalty put Dowlais in confident spirits for the rest of the half. Things only seemed to improve with an extraordinary try that ran through the Cwmbran half by Cameron Trowbridge, who also kicked the previous two penalties.

Dowlais remained steadfast with their defence for the remainder of the half, and despite not quite being able to secure a second try, another penalty kicked by Cameron Trowbridge put Dowlais comfortably ahead for the second half, with three penalties and a non-converted try.

Going into the second half however, Dowlais’ defense seemed to reach it’s limit. After being unable to escape their half for minutes on end, Cwmbran secured themselves a converted try and Dowlais’ lead suddenly seemed slightly inconsequential.

Soon after, Dowlais escaped from Cwmbran’s vice grip long enough to attempt to strike back with a try of their own in the hope of putting the game to bed for good. Unfortunately, they seemed consistently incapable of making the final yards over the line to secure their try, getting painfully close multiple times before a penalty or turnover took them back to their defensive positions.

However, after a Cwmbran yellow card, Dowlais seemed reinvigorated, dominating in the mauls and breakdowns yet again until it looked like a try was only a matter of time until it came. Despite making it over the line a once or twice and the cries of disagreement from the Dowlais supporters, no try was given.

Even after a second Cwmbran yellow card, more held up tries and denied points followed. In the final minutes, it began to look like the game could take a similar route to their last minute defeat to Risca last month.

Dowlais seemed incapable of escaping their twenty-two in the final minutes and their defence was put under immense scrutiny by the Cwmbran forwards and backs until relief finally arrived with a kick to touch on the Dowlais try line to finally bring the nerve wracking half to an end and get Dowlais their much earned win.

Next week, Dowlais are away at Pontypool United.