Fixture

Having had the previous Saturday off as Abertwssyg were unable to raise a team, Croesy had waited a fortnight to try to get back to winning ways after the disappointment of the defeat at Abercarn in the WRU Plate competition when they travelled to Caldicot.

Croesy appeared to suffer a blow during the warm up when influential No.8 Steve Thomas was unable to shake off a back problem sustained in work and had to withdraw. This led to a re-shuffle in the back row with Scott Copsey moving to No.8 and Luke Loder coming in to the team at flanker. Jessie Hewings went on to bench.

Croesy received the kick off and proceeded in a series of pick and goes by the forwards to eat up the metres until they were just short of the Caldicot 22, when the Caldicot defensive line were caught offside. Outside-half Haydn Simons successful penalty goal gave Croesy an early 3-0 lead, as well as bringing up his 150 points for the season.

Caldicot, playing with the wind behind them as well as having the advantage of the slope in the pitch, responded well with their forwards competing strongly in all facets of play. Croesy were unable to gain dominance at the scrum and Caldicot’s line-out initially worked well even securing possession of the Croesy line-out early in the game. It was through the line-out that Caldicot were able to earn their first chance of the game as driving mauls from the lineout were brought down by the Croesy defence. Unfortunately when Caldicot opted for a third lineout the referee adjudged that they blocked the Croesy defence from being able to contest the maul fairly and the pressure was lifted. Caldicot however continued to dominate territory and possession but were kept out by some great Croesy defence, with all 15 players contributing to the high tackle count. Eventually, however as often happens, after nearly half an hour Caldicot suffered a sucker punch when a loose lineout throw in the Croesy half was gathered by tight head prop Craig Price who immediately off-loaded the ball to Haydn Simons who with the support of both centres David Davies and Sean Pattimore cut through the Caldicot defence with good inter-passing of the ball before setting wing James Tucker free to score the opening try. The try was unconverted.

Within a couple of minutes Croesy had secured their second try, as the outside-half and both centres combined in a fine break from the Croesy half before releasing full-back Rhys Roberts to run the last 20 metres to touch down under the posts. Haydn Simons converting the try.

Croesy soon had their 3^rd try in a space of 10 minutes when David Davies hacked through a loose ball that had been knocked on by the Caldicot backs near the halfway line. As Davies and the defending Caldicot player dived to gather the ball it bounced free to be picked up by Rhys Roberts who went over for his second try which was unconverted.

Shortly afterwards the referee blew his whistle for half-time with Croesy in a 20-0 lead and looking for a 4^th try to secure the bonus point.

Croesy started the 2^nd half in the same vein that they finished the first with the captain, David Davies again carving through the Caldicot midfield, only to be denied by the Caldicot full-back. Unfortunately, mistakes started to creep in with both sides making a number of substitutions. Despite having the majority of possession, it was not until the final quarter that the bonus point was secured, when scrum half Ryan Bates produced another break before passing to Haydn Simons who touched down and then converted his own try.

This was soon followed by Croesy’s fifth try a solo effort scored by David Davies after he again cut through the Caldicot midfield near the half-way line and having broken through a couple of despairing tackles, crossed under the posts, Haydn Simons again converting.

With Croesy now rampant it was left to scrum-half Ryan Bates to break through the Caldicot from the base of a ruck just outside the defending team’s 22 metre line and to cross for the sixth and final try, also converted by Hadyn Simons just before the final whistle.

This was a convincing performance against an improving Caldicot team, who especially up front gave the Croesy pack a stern test. In the pack, the second rows, Tom Price and Micki Witts, showed up well, especially stealing a number of Caldicot lineouts, whilst the back row of Scott Copsey, Garin Eldred and Luke Loder were prominent in defence (even if Luke Loders head did get in the way of Scott Copseys forearm!). Haydn Simons contributed 16 points but the man of the match was the captain, David Davies who was devastating in attack and rock solid in defence.

Croesy next face local rivals Cwmbran.