Fixture

Abergavenny RFC | Youth Team Under 18 24 - 22 Mountain Ash RFC | Youth Team Under 18

Match Report
15 March 2022 / Team News

First Half Costs Young Firm In Cup Game

So near, yet so far for Mountain Ash Youth in this Plate ¼ final game away to Abergavenny.

The Young Firm started well, taking the game to Abergavenny and were awarded a penalty around the half way mark after 4 minutes. An extra 10 metres was gained due to backchat by the home team and Jayden Pugh made no mistake to make it 3-0. From then on, the first half was mainly dominated by Abergavenny with Mount defending. The Young Firm had a large penalty count against them in the first half – around 16 – and this stopped them having any sustained play.

Abergavenny had a big pack and managed a good lineout drive after 10 minutes which nearly resulted in a try but the Mount forwards pushed them back into play. Shortly after, they tried again and got the ball down this time for a try. Five minutes later, Abergavenny were back in the Mount 22, and managed to drive over off a ruck.

Mount lost a player due to a yellow card for repeated infringements but still managed to hold out towards the end of the half. With 2 minutes to go, Abergavenny secured the ball in their own half and after some impressive running and offloading, scored a third try. Mount heads dropped and the home team scored again a minute later, just on half time.

Half time score 24-3.

The Mount Coaches spoke to the boys at half time, telling them the game was not lost and they could still win it if they believed in their own ability.

The comeback started after 5 minutes into the second half when Mount worked their way into the opposition’s 22 and got a lineout on the 5m line. A training move from the lineout saw No.8 Steffan Calderbank score in the corner. With the penalty count much lower the Young Firm were able to compete, and after 20 minutes they put the ball through the hands and looked to be in for a second try, but unfortunately the scoring pass was dropped on the line. Despite this, Mount knew that they had the chance to get back into the game. Abergavenny had a player yellow carded, and on the hour the Young Firm scored a second try, hooker Rhys Pullman diving over after pressure in the home 22. With the game drawing to a close, No.8 Calderbank scored again, giving Mount real belief that they could win the game. Unfortunately, the ref blew for full time after the conversion.

To go 24-3 down and then come back, scoring 19 unanswered points in the second half showed real guts from the Mount team. They know their first half performance wasn’t good enough, and although disappointed to lose they can hold their heads high.

Tries: Steffan Calderbank (2), Rhys Pullman.

Conversions: Jayden Pugh (2).

Penalty: Jayden Pugh.

 

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