Fixture

Two tries by ever alert second row forward David Richards, both converted by fine kicks from wing Will Holley, clinched a place in the last 16 of the SWALEC Plate for the Old Firm. It was well deserved by Richards who capped a fine all-round performance all over the field, including in the lineout where he took ball for Mount and disrupted the St Jo’s lineout, as well as his busy contribution in the loose. After a month of inactivity, the Old Firm looked rusty and hesitant at times, and didn’t help themselves in difficult conditions by being over ambitious in their own 22. Although the pitch was covered with a layer of snow, it was soft underfoot and the lines visible. Clear cut chances throughout the game were virtually non-existent other than the last 5 minutes, although the Old Firm had the better of the territory. An early indiscretion at a ruck saw visiting outside half Jacob Chilcott strike a 30 metre penalty between the posts for a 3-0 lead. A nicely placed high kick into the Mount 22 was well marked by wing Steve Brittain and the ball cleared. The Old Firm’s first real attack came after 12 minutes when outside half Nick Bennett threw a long pass to full back Jack Roberts who got away down the line but his inside pass was judged forward. A minute later, wing Will Holley started a counter attack from another long kick, full back Roberts making another break for prop James Cowdry to carry the attack on and hand on to wing Steve Brittain, who went for the line but was tackled 10 metres out. Just before half time, Mount moved the ball wide from a scrum on halfway, centre Liam Jones, full back Roberts and wing Holley all handling before a kick up the touchline and quick following up forced the St Jo’s full back to take the ball into touch. The lineout was taken and driven on over the line, but from nowhere a St Jo’s forward came away with the ball, and although his pass was dropped, indiscipline by Mount cost a penalty, which brought the half to an end.

Passive scrums were called by the visitors after 5 minutes of the second half. A couple of drives from lineouts gained 40 metres for Mount as the Old Firm pressurised the visitors around their 22. Although several St Jo’s forwards were spoken to by the referee for technical offences, no action was taken. There had been only one real try scoring chance for either side throughout the match and even though the Old Firm had a forward yellow carded after 65 minutes it made no real difference, but the stalemate was broken by St Jo’s outside half Chilcott, who struck a nice penalty over from 40 metres to make it 6-0 after 69 minutes. The Old Firm were far from finished and once again took play up to the visitors’ 22 where, in loose play among the forwards, flanker Jordan Coxley slipped a pass to second row David Richards for him to run 15 metres and score to great applause from the Mount support. Holley kept his cool to kick a crucial conversion with a good strike from midway out to put the Old Firm 7-6 up after 74 minutes. With time running out, a dropped pass near halfway by the visitors saw scrum half Ross Davies put in a well-placed kick into space behind the defence. Wing Steve Brittain was quickly up and from a kick on, ever present second row David Richards showed good footballing skills to dribble the ball over the line and touch down in the 82^nd minute for his second try, which was once again converted with a superb kick by Holley from near the touchline to seal the game for Old Firm and put them into the 4^th round draw which will be made early this week.