Fixture

On Saturday afternoon the Magpies travelled to Cwmamman Park to take on Amman United RFC in the top of the table clash within WRU Bowl, Division F1. In heavy rain both teams were kept waiting as the game kicked off 50 minutes late due to the referee not arriving, a replacement having to travel from Llanelli to officiate. When the game did finally kick off at 3.25pm it didn't take the Magpies long to edge in front when full back Steven Hewitt slotted over a well taken penalty after only a minute played, Amman having being adjudged to have been holding on at a ruck.  After seven minutes Tumble were forced into an early change when centre Scott Jones was forced from the field of play with a nasty gash to the head, young Alex Jones coming on as a replacement. With a lot of play taking place near the halfway line the Magpies suddenly burst into life with some lovely interplay in the backline spearheaded by captain Richard Davies at outside half. The overlap was worked and pacey winger Elis Lewis sprinted for the corner but unfortunately knocked the ball on in the act of scoring, the score remained 0-3. With 16 minutes on the clock Amman drew level at 3-3 with a penalty kick from their outside half after Tumble were deemed offside. The Magpies were now gaining a territorial advantage and spending time deep within the Amman half, unfortunately a series of penalties and poor handling in the wet conditions saw Tumble surrender possession. After 26 minutes off the top lineout ball from second row Ryan Lewis saw centre Owain Williams carry strongly into the heart of the Amman backline, with the opposition giving a penalty away after handling in the ruck. Hewitt nailed the resultant kick to put the Magpies back in the lead, 3-6. After 32 minutes Hewitt further extended the Tumble lead with a penalty from 30 metres after Amman were caught offside again at a ruck. The referee brandished the yellow card and Amman were down to 14 players. Tumble were now on the ascendancy with centres Owain Williams and Alex Jones carrying hard. Full back Hewitt was also causing problems for the Amman defence when coming into the line. The Magpies were pressing hard within the Amman twenty-two, but unfortunately the ball went loose allowing Amman to boot the ball up field and outpace the covering defence. Some last-ditch defence from Tumble saw the Reds being held out before a knock-on signalled the end of the first half.

The physical encounter between these two old rivals boiled over within two minutes of the game restarting when the Amman loose head prop was red carded for striking an opponent. After the referee broke up the resulting brawl, Amman found themselves down to 14 players with 38 minutes still to play. Emotions were now showing and another punch up occurred just eight minutes later with the Amman scrumhalf seeing red and one of their replacements yellow. Unbelievably Amman were now down to 12 players, admittedly with one to come back on. With a three-man advantage it was expected that Tumble would now cut loose and the tries would start to flow, Amman however had other ideas and proceeded to keep the ball tight in the heavy rain which was making it hard to play any expansive rugby. Amman drove into Tumble territory and were awarded a penalty, which was duly converted by their outside half, to bring the score back to 6-9. On 64 minutes wing Elis Lewis used his pace to carve through the Amman defence and score a lovely try after good lineout ball from Ryan Lewis. Hewitt calmly converted to stretch Tumble’s lead to 6-16. Tumble supporters were now hoping that their team would be able to make their numeric advantage count and stretch the lead further. Unfortunately, Amman had other ideas and started to put pressure on the Tumble defence deep in the visitor’s half. Penalty after penalty was conceded which saw Tumble lose both scrum half Iwan Morgan and replacement prop James Stephens to the sin bin in quick succession. Back on level playing numbers at 13 a-side Amman forced their way over for a converted try to bring the score back to 13-16 on 73 minutes. Amman continued to mount pressure on the Tumble try line for the last eight minutes but the Magpies defence stood firm, allowing captain Richard Davies to boot the ball out of play on 80 minutes to secure the victory for the Gwendraeth Valley side.

Scorers:

Try - Elis Lewis

Conversion - Steven Hewitt

Penalties - Steven Hewitt x3

Footage of the game can be found on YouTube.

The win see the Magpies move within a point of Amman United at the top of WRU Bowl Division F1 on 23 points, but with two games in hand. Next week Tumble make the short journey to Cae Carwyn James to face local rivals Cefneithin RFC, kick off 2.30pm. Come and support the boys.

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