Fixture

WRU Women’s Bowl – Round 2

19^th November 2023

Match Report – Andy Clifton, Assistant Coach

The biggest challenge for this week’s WRU Bowl fixture wasn’t the travelling opposition, but the aftermath of several weeks of very wet weather.  Having had the previous weeks league fixture called off due to conditions, every effort was made to ensure our visitors from Gogledd Cymru didn’t have a wasted 5-hour coach trip.  Thanks, must be made to the OPRFC Youth Team and Coaches for frantic forking duties in the days leading up to the fixture, which meant the Seconds Pitch was just about up to the job of hosting the Old Penarthians Women’s first bowl fixture of the season.

This was a game of unknowns for both teams as it was the first time of meeting.  Abergele topping the North Wales League and Old Pens in the same position in East Wales indicated a good arm wrestle of a match was on the cards.

Old Pens won the toss and elected to play with the very strong winds in the first half.  This proved to be the right call when the long kick off from Sarah Davies was re gathered by Old Pens and the first ruck of the day set up.  Some slick handy work and solid pod work saw the ball shifted out to the wing where Kelsey Eady flew over in the corner for the first points of the day on three minutes. The wind pulled the conversion effort at the last-minute giving OPRFC and early five-point lead.

Old Pens gathered the restart and continued in the vein they started.  Solid team play with good hands kept the momentum going forward.  Unfortunately, a greasy ball gave Abergele the first scrum of the day and ended the OPRFC attack.  Pens put the Abergele scrum under pressure and a superb hit by OP No 8 Sioned Davies stopped the Abergele counterattack dead. Abergele recycled the ball from the ruck and the attacking play was once again stopped by some superb defensive work from Old Pens with Molly Sheehan with the assassin’s role this time.  Sheehan took a knock to the head in the following ruck which meant she needed to be removed from play and was replaced by Player/Coach Kim Jones.

Old Pens won the restart scrum against the head and a pickup from the No 8 started another Old Pens attack.  The great work of ball through hands continued and the ball made its way to Jodie Read who sprinted past two defenders and touched down on 9 minutes for Old Pens second try of the day.  Converted by Sarah Davies left Old Pens with a solid 12-point lead.

The pattern of play continued, with Old Pens showing confidence with ball in hand with great support lines and decisive plays making the defence second guess what to do at every turn.  But Abergele were really giving it all and managed to neuter the Old Pens attack and keep the home side at bay.  The deadlock was ended when a superb carry and line break from today’s captain Fee Bowen as she scored Pens third try of the day.  Sarah Davies kept her kicking rate at 100% for the day with a great strike at goal giving Old Pens a now comfortable 19 point to nil lead at the 23-minute mark.

Abergele reclaimed a bouncing restart ball and then had a penalty awarded for a high challenge in the subsequent defensive struggle.  They opted for the tap and go option which was quickly stopped by the solid Old Pens defence.  Turn over ball was quickly spread wide and out to Sarah Davies on the wing who slid over to add a try to her points tally for the day.  A booming conversion from Luca Laky from the five-metre channel gave Old Pens a 26-point advantage at the break.

A half time rain shower made what was already tricky conditions, even trickier.  The ball was now starting to resemble a bar of soap and both sides spilled the ball in unforced errors with the amount of mud sticking to everyone one of the main factors.  The match Referee called for uncontested scrums for safety and so did one of Old Pens trump cards as we had been dominant in the set piece.

As frustrations rose so did the tackle height, and unfortunately Old Pens were served a yellow card on 63 minutes for the third High Tackle penalty in a row.

Abergele inside Old Pens 22 opted for the quick tap penalty, but the Old Pens defence kept up the work rate shown in the first half and turned the ball over.  The flip from defence to attack was instantaneous and caught Abergele napping.  Some solid carries and several line breaks put Abergele on the back foot and allowed Kim Jones over for a try, the perfect response to the yellow card. Old Pens now 31-0 up with 15 minutes left on the clock.

The second half continued to be a scrappy affair with the errors continuing from both sides. An Abergele knock on in a ruck allowed Old Pens to set up a tight attacking move which with some quick thinking put Fee Bowen over for her second try of the day giving the Old Pens a now unassailable lead of 36 points with eight minutes to play.

Abergele were not going to go down without a fight though.  They spent the next five minutes camped on the Old Pens try line, but they just could not get through the wall of Blue and Yellow to convert the pressure in to points.  The Old Pens defensive machine was working as a well drilled unit and did its job perfectly.

The pressure of the Old Pens defence forced the error from Abergele and we were able to clear our lines.

With the clock in the red Abergele ran in one last attack, trying their best to get a consolation score for their efforts.  Once again, the Old Pens looked like they were going to deny them the score until some quick thinking and fast ruck ball let Abergele squeeze through for a try.  The conversion was missed, and the referee blew the whistle to end what was a tough but well fought fixture. Chapeau to the visitors who gave their all and played at 110% from start to finish.

Final Score: Old Penarthians 36 – 5 Abergele RFC Women’s

• Forward of the Match: Ella Hatherill, Second Row
• Back of the Match: Fee Bowen, Centre

Coaches `Most Valuable Player` award: Vicky Evans, Scrum Half & Aimee Smith, No 10.  Joint award this week as both excelled on the field.