Fixture

The Magpies travelled to Llanelli on Saturday afternoon to play their first fixture of 2023 in Admiral Division 3 West B at Bynea RFC. Tumble started the game well and broke the early Bynea resistance after 10 minutes with a try from a driving lineout, five metres out by hooker Rhys Lewis. The conversion was added from a wide angle out on the right by fullback Steven Hewitt, 0-7 to the visitors. Five minutes later Hewitt further extended the lead with a penalty goal to make it 0-10. On 17 minutes Bynea scored their first points of the afternoon with a penalty to make the score score 3-10. The Magpies were now starting to play some good stuff. Aggressive defence on the Bulldog 22 saw the ball turned over before being spread out to young centre Kian O'Reilly who broke through the defensive line and used his pace to sprint in from 20 metres. Hewitt saw his conversion attempt go wide, 3-15 to Tumble. Tumble were now cutting loose with Hewitt the next to go over following a fantastic team try. Bynea put in at a scrum 10 metres out from the Bulldogs tryline, the scrum wheeled under pressure from the visitors pack but the home number 8 still managed to gather the ball and make a strong run before hacking the ball upfield. Fielding the ball just outside his own 22, fullback Hewitt made an arching run before spreading the ball left. The Magpies stretched the Bynea defence one way before working it back right. A strong run from captain and centre Steffan Price saw him break the Bynea defence before popping the ball to Hewitt who dummied a pass to wing Mike Edwards before breazing over himself. The conversion was missed, 3-20 27 minutes played. Next up was a lovely try from number 8 Steffan Owen. A lineout was won near the halfway with Owen trucking the ball up the middle from the resultant ruck. The ball was passed out by outside half Scott Jones to centre Price who made a typical angled break, taking out three tacklers in the process deep in Bynea's 22. Scrum half Nate Richards passed from the ruck to outside half Jones who popped the ball to number 8 Owen who cut a beautiful angle to go over from 15 metres, fourth try and bonus point secured. The conversion was missed. In the dieing stages of the first half Tumble scored their fifth try through scrum half Nate Richards. Again some great team play near the halfway saw the ball in the hands of young wing Dafydd Thomas. Thomas made a strong run into the Bynea 22, before taking the tackle. Hooker Rhys Lewis dug the ball out of the ruck and floated it to outside half Jones, who drew his man before popping inside to Richards, who stepped his man and grounded the ball near the posts. Hewitt added the conversion before the whistle sounded for half time, 3-32 to the Magpies at the interval.

Halftime must have been a signal for the heavens to open, as rain of biblical proportions decended for the majority of the second half. This made handling in the first 20 minutes of the second half especially challenging. Within three minutes of the restart another slick Tumble move saw the Magpies go close through Dafydd Thomas but the final pass couldn't be gathered in the difficult conditions. On 55 minutes another try scoring situation went amise through a knock on from Price, with the ball now resembling a bar of soap in the insesent rain. Three minutes later a turnover a breakaway from a Tumble attack saw Bynea go over for a converted try against the run of play, 10-32. On 62 minutes Tumble extended their lead through a try from replacement back rower Darren Wiliams. A nice break from Hewitt saw Tumble launch an attack into the Bynea half. A loose ball was gathered by Mike Edwards who set up the ruck. The ball was taken up a couple of times before a ruck was formed just to the right of the posts. Richards fed outside half Jones who switched the ball back inside for Williams to go over under the posts. Hewitt added the easy conversion. Another Tumble attack from deep was Hewitt kick the ball upfield with wing Dafydd Thomas in pursuit. Thomas made sure he gathered the ball safely in the rain before crossing the line and rounding close to the posts on 68 minutes. The conversion dropped short, making the score 10-44. Five minutes later captain Price powered over from a tap and go but the referee adjudged the ball to have been held up, even though it appeared a clear try. The final score of the afternoon came from replacement scrum half Iwan Morgan who went over wide on the right. Hewitt added the conversion to make it 10-51. At this point the referee took pity on all standing in the constant rain and blew for full time a few minutes early.

A good performance, especially during the first half from the Magpies with a number of strong performance including Nathan Willard, Steffan Owen, Nate Richards, Scott Jones, Steffan Price, Kian O'Reilly and Steven Hewitt. The win takes the Magpies up to fourth position in the league. Next weekend we welcome Llandybie to Parc y Mynydd Mawr in another must win game. Kick off is at 2.30pm, come and support the boys.

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