S  Deri Broncos  v Rhiwbina 

 

Div 5 SE League Fixture

Sat 2/12/06

 

Rhiwbina made the long journey up to Deri for our League encounter with the Broncos.

As usual some of the City Slickers got lost on the way and did not turn up until after 2pm.

With little time to warm up the players were engulfed by a hailstorm of Biblical proportions as they started the game and this turned the Deri pitch into a bog.

Despite a slow start Richy Saltmarsh slotted over a penalty to steady the ship after 10 minutes and the Rhiwbina pack began to pressure the bigger Deri 8 into making mistakes and penalties. This led to our first try for Roy Pesticcio from a driving lineout maul and duly converted by Salty.

Roy got into the action again as another series of penalties left the Deri side down to 14 players and Rhiwbina forced their way over with an impressive maul to get Spanish his second try. Roy also took a number of strikes against the head against his opposite hooker in an impressive all round game in the first half.

Not to be outdone prop James Huntley scored his eighth try in 8 games from another powerful driving maul and put the Squirrels into a heatlthy lead. James was forced off before half time with an injury and was replaced by the clubs oldest player Eugene Jordan who put in a stirling and solid performance.

Deri did not lie down and seized the initiative before half time to bag a try for their big no 8 who was assisted by his pack to get over the Rhiwbina line from a short penalty move.

The game got badly bogged down in the second half as the conditions became almost unplayable. Captain Gavin Harris got a try with a great break from the base of an attacking scrum converted by Salty and Salty got a great drop goal from way outside the Bronco's 22 to keep the Rhiwbina scores ticking over. Rhiwbina were excellent in the scrum and lineout and to be fair our backs did try to run it despite the conditions.

Rhiwbina rounded off the game with a try for centre Mark 'Rocky' Lee who cleverly controlled a Bronco's dropped pass with his feet to score under the posts after a long kick and chase. Salty converted.

By this time it was impossible to tell the teams apart and the final whistle ended the mudfest in the gathering gloom.

Deri must be congratulated for their part in a hard but fair encounter and they never gave up throughout the whole 80 minutes and tested our side to the limit. All the best to Deri on their 50th Anniversary Season and thanks for the commemorative shield.

Rhiwbina's unbeaten run extends to 8 games and keeps us top of the league.

We must be doing well as our League opponents are phoning us up now to get our scores after the games!!

Final Score

Deri Broncos RFC 5-37 Rhiwbina RFC

 

 

 

  S  St Peters 2nds  v Rhiwbina 2nds 

 

Rhiwbina 2nds played St Peters 2nds in the East District Cup and beat them 22-8 in a hard thrilling encounter. Led by Capt Dave Hobbs fresh from his travels the Squirrels beat their opponents with 2 tries from Garth Adams who is in a rich vein of form and with impressive performances from Dan Hobbs and Dan Salter and veteran flanker Tony 'Black Eye' Bartlett. 

 Match Report:

With only one second team loss this season, that being against St Peters in the league the seconds thought that mayby they had a point to prove ! Rhiwbina showed their intentions from the start, keeping the pressure on the Rocks line for long periods. The pressure eventully told after a big midfield hit by Dan Hobbs the ball was collected by Dan Salter who released the backs, after some great inter play Garth jinked his way over for the opening score, converted by Rod. More of the same was to come with some good runs from Wayne, John, Mouse and Nicky D, setting the platform for the backs to make further inroads, only to be stopped by some brave last minute hits from the Rocks. Eventully the pressure told for Garth to to use all his ''weight'' to cross for his second, converted by Rod. Leading 14-0 at halftime and with the sun and wind in their favour Rhiw might have thought it may get a little easier, St Peters had other plans. For the first 15 mins Rhiw had to defend their beseiged line, with Tony, Dan and Jonny putting their bodies on the line (in Jonnys case there was quite a lot to put on the line), but against the run of play went up field where a penalty was converted by Rod. Again the Rocks came back and after a series of penalties a just score was made giving them a foothold in the game. Rhiw then played most of the remaining 15 mins in the Rocks half and after a pressure by Chris O, the Rocks spilled the ball on their 22 Alan D controlled the ball well to score. Final score 22- 8 to Rhiwbina. It was a good hard game with everything even in the forwards, but the backs having the slight edge made the difference. Next week Glamorgan Wanders 2nds, another hard game to look forward to.

 

 

 

  S  Llandaff North 2nds v Rhiwbina 3rds   Richy

 

 Rhiwbina 3rds were supposed to play Llandaff North 3rds but ended up having to play a strong Llandaff North 2nds which put us a a distinct disadvantage. But the boys did the club proud and got stuck in scoring 3 tries and giving the North pack a torrid time in the scrum.

I will quote Chucka: 'a great gutsy performance from the thirds today-communications went skyward and we played llandaff north 2nd xv not Llandaff North rfc 3rd xv-a loss 34-17 was a good effort-six of the pack were very much the wrong side of 40 and the backs were well avge.the 20ish age group.well stuck at it guys-a couple of seasons ago we would have lost that game by 60 or 70 points so you can hold your heads high in the club!!!well done the firsts for getting back on track in apalling conditions at deri-still top of the league!!
special mention must go to the 2nd xv for beating st.peters away in the east district cup-agood away win over the rocks!!nice eye tony bartlett,that will teach you deserting your third team,but they managed well enough without you!!see you training monday,cheers chucka.

P.S. We have confirmed Simon Brockway is the 'Oldest Player' in the club. 

Need to see everyone training this week as we have hugely important fixtures over December and into the New Year.

Great Weekend for the club,

COME ON THE SQUIRRELS!!!!