Fixture

The Magpies suffered disappointment on Saturday afternoon when they lost 28-33 at home to Furnace United RFC in Division 3 West B. Tumble started the game well with some enterprising play before the Cherries took the lead through a well struck penalty from outside half Jamie Herbert. Two minutes later they stretched their lead to 0-6 when another Herbert penalty, this time from a wide angle crept over the crossbar after Tumble were penalised for holding on at a ruck. Straight from the kick-off Tumble had a chance to register their first points when they were awarded a penalty of their own, only for experienced full back Steven Hewitt to narrowly miss from a wide angle. The Magpies however only had to wait a further two minutes when Hewitt got another shot at goal after another transgression at a ruck. This time Hewitt made no mistake and slotted over the penalty, 3-6 with 12 minutes played. The Magpies were now playing with purpose and went over for a lovely try from captain and centre Steffan Price. Tumble stretched Furnace from one touchline to the other including some strong ball carrying from the likes of flanker Dafydd Griffiths. The ball was then worked back to outside half Scott Jones who drew the defender and put Price into a gap which he burst through and angled his run to ground under the posts. Hewitt added the conversion to give the Magpies the lead for the first time, 10-6. The Magpies defence was working hard with hard hits from the likes of Griffiths and Steffan Owen holding out any Furnace attacks. Furnace went close to scoring on 20 minutes but uncompromising defence saw the Magpies hold firm and the Cherries penalised for holding on at a ruck. On 24 minutes Furnace retook the lead with a try from their wing in the left-hand corner, the conversion being missed, 10-11. The game was now toe to toe with neither side taking a backward step. A strong run by Nathan Willard saw the Magpies put into good field position only for Price to fail to gather a resultant pass. Furnace regained possession and worked their way up field and see their scrum half snipe over for a converted try. 10-18 to the Cherries with five minutes of the half to play. Tumble scored the last points of the half when one minute into injury time Hewitt slotted over a penalty to make it 13-18 at the interval.

The less said about the first 20 minutes of the second half from a Tumble perspective the better. The Magpies started the half looking lethargic and lacking the purpose they had started the first period with. Furnace scored two quickfire tries where the Magpies back line was exploited down the left-hand side. One of the tries was converted making the score all of a sudden 13-30 with 50 minutes played. Hewitt managed to pull 3 points back with a penalty on 54 minutes but it was still an uphill task especially when Furnace scored a penalty of their own following a poor scrum from the Tumble pack. 16-33 with 60 minutes played and Tumble staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat. Much to Tumble's credit they didn't give in and started to play with renewed enthusiasm and intensity. It was now Tumble's chance to score quickfire tries, firstly through number 8 Steffan Owen who powered over from a driving maul from lineout and then four minutes later through centre Alex Jones who manage to hand-off one player and drag three others over the line having being put in space by fellow-centre Price. Hewitt converted Jones try having seem his attempt following Owen's score ricochet off the right hand upright. The score was 28-33. The Magpies pressured the Furnace try line but were unable to force their way over despite some questionable hands in rucks and offsides from the defending players. The referee saw fit to award penalties but not a yellow card. After a period of pressure near their own try line Furnace managed to gather the ball and get it down into the Tumble 22. In the dying seconds of the game, deep into injury time the Magpies managed one last attack from deep Scott Jones broke to halfway and fed young wing Dafydd Thomas who used his pace to approach the Cherries 22 before kicking the ball ahead to avoid the touchline. Unfortunately, a Furnace defender awaited to null the ball and allow the referee to blow the whistle for fulltime. Final score 28-33 to Furnace.

A disappointing loss and another losing bonus point from a tight game which could have easily been won. The boys now have to dust themselves down and prepare for a rearranged home game against Llandybie on Thursday night, kick off 7.15pm.

A copy of the matchday programme can be found at the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GcF38dE9HmRYkga1ZCkR4luW5JTkUfyx/view?usp=sharing

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