Fixture

Dowlais VS Newbridge 03/09/2022 Match Report

Score:

Dowlais: 13

Newbridge: 29

An ultimately unsuccessful but respectable effort from Dowlais for this first game of the season with a 29-13 loss at home against Newbridge.

With a history of very decisive defeats against their opponents this week, expectations were certainly cautious as the kick-off whistle sounded, but the opening minutes – and the first half as a whole – were remarkably evenly matched, with Dowlais putting in great work to ensure that this match wouldn’t be a repeat of their previous bouts.

This is even more impressive considering that things didn’t get off to the best start once the inaugural minutes of the game were behind them. Despite an even and well defended start, Newbridge got the first points on the board with an early converted try.

Seeing as how their previous matches against the visitors had gone, this didn’t seem to bode very well for Dowlais, even less so following an early red card which set them up with the unenviable prospect of playing more than three quarters of the game with only fourteen men.

But despite this and what all previous precedent would imply, this wasn’t the start of a several-dozen point thrashing, rather the boys seemed invigorated. With a man short and a long game still ahead of them, the Dowlais defence tightened up and their attacking efforts continued with renewed strength.

These efforts culminated in a try driven over the line, touched down by Luke Evans and converted by Sion Martin, setting the home side even with their opponents. After some further back-and-forth for the remaining minutes, the first half came to a close with a pleasantly surprising 7-7 tie.

Despite early set-backs, the Dowlais boys had managed to not just keep the game well under control, but even make it to the second half with not a point separating them from the visitors.

Things were very optimistic going into the second half, but unfortunately the momentum couldn’t quite be kept up for the second forty minutes.

Although still a valiant defensive effort considering their less-than-ideal circumstances, it seemed as though the missing man in their squad finally caught up to them, and throughout the second half Newbridge would put four tries on Dowlais, securing them their winning bonus point.

Amidst all this the home side did still have plenty of commendable attacking efforts, albeit ones that didn’t bear any batches of five or seven points for the board. But they didn’t quite leave the Newbridge twenty-two empty handed, leaving twice with a penalty between the posts, earning them some points to inch them back towards the opposition.

But ultimately, these efforts wouldn’t be enough and the second half would end without any more tries on the board for Dowlais.

However, the game came to a close with a respectable final score of 29-13 to Newbridge. Once again, Dowlais managed to keep the game under good enough control, and although they didn’t manage to strike back, Newbridge were also unable to completely run away with their victory.

It could be partly said that this was down to the fact that all but one of their four second half tries were unconverted, losing them an easy six points, but a still strong Dowlais defence can also certainly take a lot of credit for that, including an impressive last-minute defence of their try-line to close the game.

Despite many unoptimistic expectations going in, the visitors walking away with a winning bonus point and the odds being stacked against them from very early on, the Dowlais boys definitely put in a solid effort to be proud of this week, bringing them the closest to victory they’ve been yet against the top-of-the-league side that so thoroughly beat them down years ago.

Let’s hope the boys can keep this up past this first game and into the rest of the season as they face Pontypool United away next week.