Fixture

A much changed Tumble side played away to lowly Penybanc who fielded four players on permit and came away with four valuable points which sees them topping Division Three West B.

Tumble started well enough and their forwards looked powerful against their lighter opponents. Dominating possession and territory, the Magpies were unable to turn this advatage into points until the reliable Steven Hewitt kicked a twenty metre penalty after sixteen minutes. The restart however saw Tumble offside and the ruck and Mathew Lloyd kicked them level.

With the Magpies using a high tempo game plan, both forwards and back worked well. Hard metres were made by Nathan Willard and the flying flanker Celt Flint but Penybanc defended doggedly. Attack after attack was repulsed but, when Hefin Dumbrill swooped on a loose ball in midfield, the ghosted past two defender to feed to James Owens. The next passage of play saw wing Nicky Allinson take the ball at pace and he weaved over in the corner for an unconverted try.   

Twenty five minutes had gone and Penybanc were under the cosh. A break by centre Price enable Hewitt to put the ball wide and with Owens taking the ball he sped through only to be called back from offside. Tumble pressed in the home twenty two and were awarded a succession of penalties which resulted in two yellow cards for the home side involving separate incidents.  

Camped on the home twenty two, Penybanc held well with thirteen men but the inevitable drive from Tumble's eight saw them over the line for a try which Darren Williams scored after thirty eight minutes.

The second half was to be both a shock and disappointment to the visitors. Unable to capitalise on the advantage in numbers, Penybanc gradually worked their way back into the game with some good work by both backs and forwards. Exploiting some weak defence, they worked the ball upfied and an overlap saw centre Hughes go over for a try which was unconverted. 

With twenty minutes left Tumble were vulnerable to the counter attack but, keeping the ball tight were making ground. Unfortunately the final execution went awry on several occasions and the Tigers were able to stem the tide. The game was becoming stale with play in middle of the field but, an opportunist kick by the Magpies enable Allinson to outstrip the cover defence and he got his second try. Fifteen minutes left and a Tumble forward was given a yellow and they needed to re-group.

Tumble pressed but the ball was stripped from the five metres out, the turnover allowed Penybanc to sweep upfield. Two passages of play later, centre Hughes crashed over for a try which Lloyd converted. The Magpies were now losing shape and, allowing for some enforced changes, they held out. Back to fifteen they were able to drive at the opposition but could not get the much needed score. With stoppage time looming and Tumble penalised in opposition territory some thirty metres out, they were again shown yellow and down to fourteen men again. The minutes ticked by with play going back and forth, ......... six, seven minutes passed and the referee kept play going. After nine minutes of stoppage, Tumble turned the ball over and, with Hewitt kicking it dead, enough was enough.

All of Tumble's thoughts now turn to the massive quarter-final SWALEC Cup game against rival Burry Port which will be buoyed by two victories this season over the Magpies. Match at Parc y Mynyddmawr on 9th April. Show your support and cheer them on KO 2.30.

15, James Owens
14, Nicky Allinson,  2T
13, Steffan Price,
12, Adam Davies
11 Ifan Davies
10 Steve Hewitt    Pen
9 Rhodri Jones
1, Dafydd Pritchard
2, Rhys Lewis
3, James Stephens
4 Gareth Beynon
5 Hefin Dumbrill
6 Celt Flint
7 Darren Williams
8 Nathan Willard  1T

Subs

16 Steven Rees on
17 Nick Rees
18 Iwan Morgan on
19 Rhodri Morgan on
20 Michael Edwards

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