Fixture

Croesy travelled to Emlyn Park knowing that victory against an in-form Talywain team would guarantee promotion to Division 1 East as well as another step towards the goal of being League champions. This was potentially a difficult fixture with Talywain possessing a big pack and a dangerous set of backs.

The early exchanges were dominated by kicking as both sides sought to gain territorial advantage, although when the ball was handled both sets of backs looked incisive. After missing an early penalty attempt from long-range outside-half Haydn Simons opened the scoring after 14 minutes with a 35m penalty goal after Croesy disrupted a Talywain scrum, gaining possession against the head and forcing Talywain to infringe.

The game remained tight but on 23 minutes, following a maul on the Croesy 10m line, the Talywain blind-side flanker spotted a large gap in the Croesy defence and when tackled 15m from the Croesy line, the Croesy fullback David Davies jackled the already tackled player only to be penalised as he was deemed by the referee to be the tackler and not releasing. This was met with incredulity amongst the many Croesy supporters. The penalty was converted to make the scores level at 3 apiece.

Almost immediately Croesy hit back with the first try of the game. A solid Croesy scrum on the halfway line saw the ball passed along the backline with David Davies coming into the line at pace, breaking the Talywain defensive line, before passing to wing James Tucker who finished off the move. Haydn Simons converted the try.

Shortly after however Croesy were reduced to 14 men when openside flanker Luke Loder was yellow carded for what was deemed by the referee to be a tip tackle. Despite this, it was Croesy who got the next score. Despite their numerical advantage, the Talywain scrum was still struggling to contain the remaining 7 Croesy forwards. From one of these scrums in the Croesy 22, the Talywain outside half sent a grubber kick down the blindside for his wing, only for scrum half Ryan Bates to gather the ball and evade the wing before launching an 80m counter attack, breaking down the wing and engaging in some interpassing with Haydn Simons before releasing Stephen Drummond who had come over from the opposite wing to score under the posts. Haydn Simons added the conversion.

Haydn Simons then added a second penalty goal before half-time when David Davies, who frequently caused panic in the Talywain defence was high-tackled on the Talywain 10m line. Luke Loder then re-joined play just prior to the half-time whistle which was sounded with Croesy well on the way to victory at 20 points to 3.

In similar fashion to the previous Saturday, Croesy then added two quick tries early in the second-half. The first try came with the classic 8-9-14 move off a Croesy scrum near half way, with Steve Thomas passing to Ryan Bates who released Stephen Drummond into space. When Stephen Drummond was eventually brought down in the Talywain 22, the ball was recycled quickly. Centre Jordan Bailey straightened the line of attack before releasing David Davies to score the try.

During the attack hooker Dan Goode sustained what looks to be a season-ending injury with a broken bone in his foot. This was very unfortunate for Dan who has excelled since converting to the hooking role this season and he will be sorely missed in the remaining games.

The fourth Croesy try, securing the bonus-point, came from a loose pass by veteran Talywain prop Nick Blake which was picked up by Steve Drummond for a 50m run in leaving the Talywain defence chasing forlornly behind him. Haydn Simons added the 2 points.

Talywain were trying manfully but were distinctly second best as their forwards tired and Croesy could have scored more tries if some try-scoring passes had gone to hand. Eventually and inevitably Croesy got their fifth try, with both wings Stephen Drummond and James Tucker combining with Ryan Bates, who from a ruck near the Talywain line passed to No 8 Steve Thomas who burst through a gap in the defence to score from close range. This allowed Steve Thomas to extend his lead as top try scorer this season, ironically Ryan Bates being close behind!

Shortly afterwards a second Croesy player suffered possibly a season-ending injury as Scott Copsey pulled up with a problem with his knee. Croesy used their remaining replacements at this stage.

Talywain eventually scored a try with five minutes remaining, courtesy of a driving maul from a lineout near the Croesy line. The try was converted.

With the game drawing to a close, there was still time for Haydn Simons to kick a third penalty goal with the last action of the game, as the Talywain blindside flanker broke early at a Croesy scrum 45m out from the Talywain line.

This was a convincing 42-10 victory against a side who had felt that they could defeat Croesy, but as one of their players said afterwards Croesy were fitter, stronger and faster as well as being more skilful.

The man of the match was scrum-half Ryan Bates who provided great impetus with his all-round play always threatening the Talywain defence as well as being involved in a number of the tries.