Fixture

WRU LEAGUE DIVISION 1 EAST

Dowlais: 19

Senghenydd: 12

A solid start to the season and first win for Dowlais this week at home against Senghenydd.

The first half saw a lot of missed opportunities for both sides and slow progress up the score board. Senghenydd began the game with the first two penalties before Dowlais responded with two of their own both kicked by Steve James. While Dowlais defended strongly at this point in the game, a number of knock-ons and poor passes ruined many of their chances to score and put the game to bed early on.

The first and only try did come for Dowlais in the final minutes of the half, touched down by new signing Tan Vatunitu and once again converted by Steve James, with one final penalty for Dowlais closing the half.

Going into the second half, the game continued in much the same way, with Dowlais effectively keeping Senghenydd at bay while failing to score further themselves, other than one final penalty in the closing minutes, with Senghenydd gaining on them with two more penalties but failing to break through the Dowlais defence to even the score.

Defensively, Dowlais performed admirably, denying Senghenydd a single try all game, but going forward, against tougher opponents, they’ll have to work to make sure their all-important chances to score aren’t wasted by knock-ons or botched passes.

However, as a first game this can easily be bettered in the following weeks. For now, Dowlais has a great foundation to build on going forward for the following weeks and the rest of the season.

Next week, Dowlais plays Brynmawr away.