Fixture

In a hard-fought, sometimes niggly encounter, the 1st XV eventually overcame visitors Morriston RFC 31 points to 17 at Woodland Road to advance into the 3rd round of the WRU Plate competition. With Morriston currently in 2nd place in Division 2 West Central, this was always expected to be a close match.

Croesy again showed a number of changes for the game with half a dozen players unavailable through injury and a further chgange  had to be made during the warm up with centre Jordan Bailey dropping out to be replaced by Dom Hodgson

The game kicked off 15 minutes late because of an incident on the M4 motorway which delayed the Morriston team bus, and it was Croesy who seized the initial advantage with a penalty try in the first few minutes of the game as the Morriston pack collapsed a scrum close to their line. The dominance in the scrum was to continue throughout the game. Croesy remained in the ascendancy for the first quarter of the game and if they had been slightly more clinical could have extended their lead.

Morriston gradually though started to get more into the game, possibly as the disruption of their late arrival wore off, and Croesy started to concede a number of penalties in loose play. It was as a result of one of these penalties that Morriston got their first points on the board with a 40 metre effort from in front of the posts. This score appeared to boost Morriston and within a few minutes , they had crossed the Croesy line twice, the first occasion being a sustained forward effort culminating into a short drive over the line and the second being a good passing move amongst the backs that saw the left wing cross in the corner. From leading 7-0, Croesy were now trailing 17 points to 7 as half time approached.

Fortunately Croesy dragged themselves back into the game, with the backs combining to release wing Rhys Roberts, only for him to be takwn out illegally by the Morriston inside centre five metres short of the Morriston line. The foul play resulted in a yellow card with Croesy opting for a scrum instead of the penalty. Unfortunately Croesy were themselves penalised at the scrum. However the relief was short-lived as another scrum near to the Morriston line saw them again collapse the scrum as they retreated towards their own line, conceding a second penalty try.

With Morriston reduced to 14 men, Croesy were again in the ascendancy and should have had a third try, when Rhys Roberts had a clear run-in, only for him to have a "teflon" moment, juggling and dropping the ball as he crossed the line. The half-time whistle blew with Croesy trailing 17 points to 14.

Croesy began the second half strongly as they sought to regain the lead, but came up against a resolute Morriston defence. However after conceding a number of penalties in their own 22 the Morriston defence was eventually breached with No.8 Steve Thomas, who like many others had endured a difficult afternoon in handling the wet ball, being driven over from close range. Connor Goode converted the try and soon extended the lead to seven points with a 35m penalty goal.

Morriston were still in the game and produced some good attacking spells as they sought to draw level, however strong defence and the dominant Croesy scrum kept them out as they were twice driven off their own ball in scrums near to  the Croesy line. As the game neared its conclusion the Morriston left wing thought that he had an opportunity to score as he hacked a loose ball out of the Morriston 22 and was leading the chase for the ball, but the referees attention had been drawn ro another incident of foul play, which resulted in yellow cards for Croesy scrum-half Luke Brown and a Morriston player.

Victory was eventually sealed when Ryan Bates spotted a large gap in the Morriston defence around the ruck on the Morriston 10 metre line, sprinting over under the posts. Connor Goode again converted before the referee blew the final whistle.

In a scrappy game where handling proved difficult it was not easy to identify a man of the match, Connor Goode was tidy in his play and was successful with all his place kicks, while Jamie Williams carried well in his unfamiliar position as blind-side flanker and both Rob Stark and Tom Price put in a large amount of tackles. The front-row again scrummaged well in dominating their opponents, but the Man of the Match was Ryan Bates, his performance being identified by the Morriston head coach as the stand out performance of the day.