Fixture

The third meeting of the teams this season proved just as tight as the first two occasions with Croesy running out 15-7 victors, the win being confirmed courtesy of a late try from wing Stephen Drummond.

The game was a tense affair throughout as both sides struggled to gain superiority although Cwmbran struggled to contain the Croesy physicality at the ruck and maul. Croesy opened the scoring courtesy of a short-range effort by No.8 Garin Eldred after a period of Croesy pressure near the Cwmbran line. The try was well-converted by outside half Haydn Simons from near the touchline. With the early try Croesy appeared to be in control and had Cwmbran on the back foot.Unfortunately a yellow card for Croesy 2nd row Jamie Williams changed the complexion of the game for the 10 minutes that he was off the pitch as Cwmbran managed to drive back the weakened Croesy scrum resulting in penalties that tied Croesy into their own 22. The pressure that Cwmbran were able to put on a 14 man Croesy defence resulted in a second short-range try, this time for one of the Cwmbran props, again well converted from wide out. The score remained 7 points apiece until half-time.

Croesy made a tactical change at half=time with Matthew Entwistle moving to scrum half from the centre. The move seemed to work as Croesy edged territory and appeared to be more dangerous in the backs. However the vast majority of play took place in the middle third of the pitch. Croesy did eventually break the Cwmbran defence causing them to kill the ball as Croesy threatened from within the Cwmbran 22. Haydn Simons kicked the resulting penalty to put Croesy back into the lead.

The match remained tight and chances were few, when almost for the first time in the game Cwmbran carved out an opening in the Croesy defence, and when a score seemed likely, Croesys replacement winger Cameron Jones intervened, the resulting knock on being deemed deliberate by the referee resulting in a yellow card for Jones. The relatively easy penalty attempt was missed by Cwmbran and shortly after they found themselves also down to 14 men following a deliberate knock on by their left wing as Croesy attacked. As the end of the match drew nearer any score was likely to settle the game, and with the Croesy backs looking the most threatening it was they who stretched the Cwmbran defence and allowed the late try to seal the game.

This was Croesys ninth league win in 11 games since early December and illustrates the progress the team has made over the past 4 months with competition being keen throughout the team. It was also Matthew Entwistles last appearance at Woodland Road for the club after over 17 seasons as a regular in the first team.