Fixture

Tumble welcomed the Cherries of Furnace United RFC to Parc y Mynydd Mawr on Saturday afternoon for the first game between the two clubs at 1^st team level for many a season. With the Cherries having an identical playing record to the Magpies, with one win and a defeat out of two games played an even contest was expected. Tumble on the other hand had other ideas and scored their first try of the afternoon pretty much from the kick-off when experienced winger Nicky Allinson was released by scrum half Iwan Morgan to score his first try since returning to the game after a three-year sabbatical. The conversion was missed to make the score 5-0 to the Magpies. With half backs Morgan and Steven Hewitt controlling territory the Magpies extended their lead with a penalty from Hewitt making the score 8-0. Tumble were now getting into their rhythm and were complementing some strong running from the likes of young centre Alex Jones and wing Mike Edwards with genuine pace and cutting edge behind the scrum. Flanker Lee Colling was showing up well as was the busy openside Tom Miles who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Number eight Owain Davies, making his first competitive start of the season was next to score after a powerful run saw him crash through three would be tacklers and ground the ball for a try. Hewitt added the extras to make the score 15-0 to the Magpies. The Magpies were now tearing into their opposition and a charging run by centre and captain Steffan Price saw him release fly half Hewitt who sprinted in from the 22 to score Tumble’s third try. The conversion was missed making it 20-0. Hard carries from centres Jones and Price saw them release number 8 Davies who powered over for his second try which was converted by Hewitt making the score 27-0 with less than half an hour on the clock. After a blistering start and with the bonus point already in the bag the Magpies seemed to take their foot off the accelerator and started to yield a number of penalties. It was in this period that young centre Jones was shown the yellow card and sent to the sin bin. The score remained 27-0 at the interval.

The second half arrived and brought with it a change of fortune for the Cherries. All of a sudden, they were now dominant at scrum time and scored an early converted try to bring the score back to 27-7. After the shaky opening to the half the Magpies began to recompose themselves. A scrum deep in Furnace territory saw Owain Davies once again power off the base and charge over the whitewash to complete his hattrick of tries. Hewitt converted to open Tumble’s lead to 34-7. A break by scrum half Morgan saw him flick the ball to the rampaging Owain Davies who drew the tackler and fed replacement Owain Williams who crossed near the posts for another try which was again converted by Hewitt, 41-7. There was still time on the clock for another Magpies score and after some fine build up play and an offload out of contact by Davies scrum half Morgan was released to ground the ball for Tumble’s seventh try of the afternoon. The conversion was added by Owain Williams to complete the scoring and secure a fine 48-7 win for the men in Black and White hoops.

Man of the Match: Owain Davies – storming first competitive appearance of the season and well worth his hattrick of tries.

A copy of the match day programme can be found at the following link:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B6Q42_IFPKqw7SWlTKvA5vUBhj-xtbPp/view?usp=sharing

Next week the Magpies make the trip to Llanelli to face New Dock Stars RFC in the league, kick-off 2.30pm. After losing 7-55 at home to the Magpies in the National Bowl a fortnight ago Dock will be eager to gain revenge and this should be some game. Come and support the boys.

Ymlaen Y Piod