BOXING DAY RUGBY.
Cardigan RFC 7 Cardigan Select 12
The spirit of Christmas was put to one side for this annual charity fixture as players past and present thundered into each other on the very heavy King George strip and produced an entertaining feast of rugby enjoyed by the decent sized crowd.
Cardigan and Crymych youth produced the starter of the day with the visitors running out comfortable winners but the outcome of the senior event was in the balance right up until the closing minutes with neither side willing to budge an inch and absorbing some fierce hits.
The select XV fielded a mixture of one time Cardigan players as well as a sprinkling of players from neighbouring clubs for this charity event which this year was in aid of the #TimMia trust.
Former players in outside half Jack Lewis ,centre Carwyn Thomas, full back Dafydd Evans and hooker Dan Martin soon made their presence felt and were a handful all afternoon but Cardigan with full back John Lumb impressive along with scrum half Owain Rees and half back partner Tomos Jones took the game to the opposition and it was the Cardi’s who opened the scoring when loose head prop Will Brice powered his way over and this was converted by Jones.The Select XV hit back with a try when Martin rounded off a fine passage of play with his co forwards in the shape of prop Aled Richards, number eight Fraser Rees, blind side Huw Davies, centre Carwyn Phillips and scrum half Nathan Ladd very prominent but Lewis was just short with his conversion.
There were plenty of scoring opportunities in the second half but the very slippery conditions made life difficult but referee Colin Phillips kept the tempo going and the Select XV took the lead when the ball squeezed over the line with several players diving desperately to claim the touchdown which was eventually awarded by Phillips as the afternoon gloom and freezing conditions tested the most hardy of supporters.
Lewis slotted over the extras to put his team 12-7 ahead and this was how the score remained as the Select side finished strongly and they were unlucky not to claim a couple more tries late on with full back Evans and number eight Rees going close.
