Division 3 West A
St Clears 7 Cardigan 0
The most important game of the season in Division 3 West A turned out to be a disappointing mud wrestling match with most of the proceedings taking place between the twenty metre areas and had there not been so much as stake most of the supporters would have left long before the end.
St Clears though will not worry a jot about that as they got the job done as planned and they now look odds on to lift the league championship over the next week or so.
Cardigan have now left themselves with a mountain to climb despite a monumental effort in the closing stages when they battered away at the hosts try line with their opponents on the ropes.
The Cardi’s now need to win their three remaining matches and score at least four tries in each to be crowned champions- this a huge task especially as they have failed to cross the whitewash in 160 minutes of rugby
Skipper Llyr Griffiths who led by example all afternoon almost scored in the dying minutes but he was just beaten in his quest to touch the ball down for a try which would have earned his team a score under the posts and a draw that would probably have been a fair result.
The match which was poor on quality was played in conditions more suited to a herd of mud caked hippos and it was a surprise that the game was allowed to proceed such was the dreadful state of the pitch.
There were very few highlights as both teams just ploughed into each other or arm wrestled for the ball as the ankle deep mud made spinning the ball about very difficult. There was only one try scored and that was a very contentious one with the visitors looking to have a decent shout (see pic below) for the ball having been grounded over the line and in the dead ball area.
Chances were few and far between and Cardigan enjoyed the best of these in the opening ten minutes and should have scored a try when an overlap was spurned five meters out and followed by another try scoring opportunity missed following a knock on with the line again beckoning. St Clears rode their luck and weathered the storm and were the better team for most of the half and should have gone ahead with a penalty that looked harder to miss.
The hosts eventually took the lead just after the break when a mistake in the visiting defence allowed outstanding centre Mike Georgiau to charge the ball down and flanker Jake Iles was on hand to beat the opposition to the touchdown. The Cardigan players appealed to referee Mr Andrew Miles and he took a long look at the goal line before signalling that a try had been scored. Full back Geraint Jones added the extras.
For the remaining half hour of the game Cardigan were in the ascendency and St Clears were forced to defend for their lives as the likes of flanker Colin Davies and number eight Llyr Griffiths battered away. The saints lost two players to yellow cards as they did their utmost to prevent a try by killing the ball and the visitors missed a couple of overlaps with the saints stretched.
One excellent chance, created by a sublime pass from prop Ben Hughes went awry when his front row colleague Bedwyr Davies dropped the ball with the try line just a short distance away. Davies was outstanding all afternoon especially in the tackling stakes but he was caught by surprise with the quick hands of Hughes. Blind side Davies was held up just a metre from the line by a superb tackle from his opposite number Owain Davies and skipper Griffiths received the same treatment from the Saints back row.
The visiting crowd urged the Cardi’s to get the ball wide with St Clears having players in the bin but it never went further than inside centre Emyr Harries with the visiting pack proving to be dab hands at slowing the leather down.
When the ball eventually found its way out of the pack there was a succession of knock on’s and leaders St Clears eventually hung on for a narrow seven point win in what was their final game of the season and they are now fourteen points ahead of their title rivals.
This was a very physical and at times extremely tense affair with the conditions turning the game into a wrestling match with the honours shared in that department.
Georgiau was very influential for St Clears with clever kicks into space and he took the ball up regularly and crucially never lost it whilst for Cardigan, outside half Llyr Jones kept very calm under a huge amount of pressure. Up front Hughes was outstanding alongside Davies and Tomos Evans but their team mates could not convert any of their hard work into points and this needs to change before Saturday or it will be all over.
Cardigan now have to do it the hard way with a game at Milford Haven this weekend followed by home matches against Pembroke and then Pembroke Dock. Llyr Griffiths and his men need to win all three and secure a four try bonus point and that may well be beyond them.
