There has been a shake-up in the Indigo Welsh Premiership as Ebbw Vale rises to take the top spot over reigning champions Llandovery.
Last week Llandovery travelled to face Ebbw Vale in a midweek clash at the Ciner Glass Community Stadium in the Indigo Premiership. As the game began Llandovery were hopeful of maintaining their fine undefeated start to the season.
It was a tight first half in challenging conditions with both sides making several blunders with the ball. Ebbw Vale grew into the game in the second half as they managed the challenging weather conditions better than Llandovery. Ebbw Vale dominated the game with their set pieces, forcing Llandovery to concede a number of penalties. Ebbw Vale pulled away from The Drovers towards the final whistle with the final score being Ebbw Vale 25 – 17 Llandovery. Looking towards the weekend, Ebbw Vale will face Neath away at the Gnoll whilst Llandovery will aim to return to winning ways as they face RGC at home on Saturday 21st October.
Elsewhere in the Indigo Premiership last week, Pontypridd faced Bridgend at Sardis Road. Ponty made it back-to-back league wins as they opened up the scoring after just 6 minutes of playing thanks to Rob Jones jumping across the line from a rolling maul. Bridgend fought back in the first half with a converted try and penalty. Ponty continued to perform however with Liam Lloyd evading Bridgend’s final defenders to score in the corner for Ponty to lead at the break.
As the second half began, Bridgend’s outside half Price added a penalty to their points tally to narrow the score. Ponty were quickly back scoring as Harvey Nash scored against his former club with Phillips converting it to extend their lead to 9 points. That was not enough for Ponty as Liam Lloyd added his second try of the day for Pontypridd to win the game 29-13. Looking ahead to the weekend, Ponty will want to extend their record to three back-to-back league wins as they take on Pontypool RFC away on Saturday 21st October.
In the National League 2 North, Rotherham faced Sheffield away last weekend. It was a challenging derby as both sides gave their all to win the match despite challenging weather conditions. Titans began the days scoring with an early penalty. Sheffield struck back quickly with a Charlie Davies try taking them into the lead. Rotherham came back before the end of the first half thanks to a try from Dan Rundle and a 3 pointer from Hayes, resulting in Rotherham taking the lead into the break.
Hayes was back at it again in the second half, kicking his third penalty of the game and extending Rotherham’s lead. Yet again Sheffield struck back immediately with a Cameron Catleugh try. Sheffield’s comeback was however short lived as a flurry of tries came in quick successions with Rotherham scoring three tries in a space of 12 minutes. Rotherham extended their unbeaten run as the final score was Sheffield 17 – 37 Rotherham. Rotherham will now look to further this season’s success as they face Otley on Saturday 4th November.
It was a victory all round for the Scimitar teams in the Counties 2 Midlands West (East) last weekend with Barkers Butts and Woodrush dismantling their opponents. Woodrush faced Uttoxeter at home, performing well to win the game 26-10. The result means that Woodrush now sits in 7th place. Elsewhere Barkers Butts extended their fine scoring form as they beat Coventrians 39-5, meaning they have now gone three games undefeated and currently sit 2nd place in the league.
It was a weekend to forget for our two teams in the Regional 2 Midlands West league. With both teams at home, Hereford faced Ludlow and Worcester faced Cheltenham. In two extremely narrow games, Worcester was beaten by just one point with the final score being 18-19 to the away side. It was much of the same for Hereford as they were beaten by five with the final score being 29-33 to the away side.
It was a similar story for Chipstead last weekend in the Counties 2 Surrey league as they faced Old Rutlishians at home. Despite scoring a total of 14 points, it just wasn’t enough to clinch the win as the Old Rutlishians won 14-25. Chipstead now sits in 5th place with three wins from a possible five so far this season.
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