Fixture

Dowlais RFC | 1st Team 19 - 27 Bedlinog RFC | 1st Team
Gethin Coleman
3 Conversion
2 Penalty
Aaron Harris
1 Try
Andrew Murphy
1 Try
Anthony Markey
1 Try

Match Report
13 October 2022 / Team News

08/10/22 Dowlais v Bedlinog Admiral National League 1 EAST Match Report

Dowlais VS Bedlinog 08/10/2022 Match Report

Score:

Dowlais: 19

Bedlinog: 27

A disappointing result for Dowlais this week with a 27-19 defeat at home against Bedlinog.

An impressive crowd gathered for the match this week between the old derby rivals, and unfortunately for the home side, things didn’t get off to a particularly good start. Although not entirely overwhelmed on the physical side of things, Dowlais’ long-standing scourge of penalties reared its head in the early stages of the game, giving the visitors an early lead of 3-0.

This lead would remain and only widen for most of the first half’s remainder, with Bedlinog scoring a converted try and another penalty before Dowlais could even get a single point on the board. Even more painfully, Dowlais managed to come close on several occasions, even getting only a few yards from the try line on more than one occasion.

But unfortunately – and perhaps predictably – many of these opportunities were cast away by a stray penalty or lapse in judgement, maintaining Bedlinog’s lead.

Bedlinog’s pack definitely kept Dowlais’ busy for the duration of the game, with each scrum being a challenge. But eventually, the home side managed to break through and get themselves a try in the dying minutes of the half, albeit unconverted, touched down by Kyle Prosser. Ending the first half at 13-5 to Bedlinog.

Having finally gotten their first notches on the board, things were feeling a lot more positive for Dowlais’ going into the second half, being only eight points away from breaking Bedlinog’s lead that had so far lasted all game.

But unfortunately, that turnaround wouldn’t come to pass, and Dowlais landed themselves in hot water once more as soon as the second half commenced. Thanks to a bad kick-off, Bedlinog managed to retrieve the ball and quickly mount an early assault on the Dowlais try line, one that would ultimately be successful and converted.

This early concession shot the visitors’ lead ahead to a difference of more than two converted tries, a much greater hurdle to overcome than Dowlais had been expecting going into the half.

And from there, Dowlais would sadly never managed to pull ahead for the rest of the game. The second half was by no means an uncontested one, but Dowlais’ efforts simply didn’t prove enough to push ahead. For everything that they did and every effort they made to try and close the gap, Bedlinog responded equally and swiftly. Thinning the gap to only eight points was the best that they’d manage.

Dowlais would respond to Bedlinog’s converted try with one of their own, touched down by Jake Howard and converted by Connor Murphy. But from there any efforts to tighten the gap further were foiled before they could get behind the line, by either Bedlinog or indeed, Dowlais themselves.

Another converted try from Bedlinog would push the score up to 27-12, a fifteen point gap with only the final quarter to go.

Dowlais certainly didn’t give up, but with the strength of Bedlinog’s forwards pretty much equalling their own, progress was slow, and the remaining time began to slip away from them.

A spring of hope did eventually come for the home side, with a yellow card for Bedlinog that would surely wound their pack’s strength. In the following minutes, that prediction proved to be true, with Dowlais’ forwards now dominating the visitors in the scrum, quickly paving the way towards another converted try for Dowlais touched down by Joel Braddock and converted once again by Connor Murphy, bringing the score to 27-19.

But unfortunately, that would be the final score, and that try would be the final event of the game. The yellow card had come with barely five minutes left on the clock, and despite a valiant push to the end, it had simply come too late for Dowlais to mount their comeback, ending the game with a 27-19 victory to Bedlinog, the home side just barely missing out on a losing bonus point.

Overall, while still full of many of Dowlais’ usual positives from this season so far, an improved sense of fluidity and motion in the backs and the forwards’ usual determined grit, their greatest enemy this week was themselves.

As seen in areas like the scrum, Bedlinog were very much on par with Dowlais in many ways this week, and victory against them wasn’t a very far-fetched idea. The difference came from the visitors simply being able to keep their cool a lot better and not making silly mistakes that cut their offensive efforts short.

Let’s hope for a victory next week when Dowlais head on over to St. Joseph’s for their next match in the cup.

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