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22 February 2016 / Club News

Builth Wells v Skewen Match Report

On Saturday the 20th February Skewen made the long journey to Builth Wells on what was probably the wettest Saturday of the season so far. Builth’s season had been gaining momentum with 5 wins out of the last 7 games; even the 2 losses had achieved losing bonus points. It was clear to all that Builth fancied their chances to win and that the conditions would have only increased their optimism.

Skewen started the game playing into driving wind and rain and found it difficult to get out of their 22  under pressure from a series of committed  Builth attacks. Despite having the territory and possession a strong Skewen defence limited Builths’ scoring opportunities to 2 successful penalties. 6-0

Slowly defence turned into attack and Skewen were able to make their way up field. Good ball retention and phase play resulted in a rumble try for young blindside Joe Lewis. 6-5.

Skewen were now gaining territory and possession and the second try came from some good work from outside half Anthony Busselli deft footwork saw him who grubber kick  past the Builth defence to race in for a try which he also converted  6-12.

Builth ended the half strongly scoring a penalty on the stroke of half time. 9-12

Playing with the wind and rain at their backs Skewen controlled both territory and possession and it was Builth who found it increasingly difficult to get out of their 22. Indeed most of the second half was spent in one corner of the Builth 22 which was rapidly becoming the shallow end of the field. Despite having the lion’s share of the possession and being camped in the Builth 22 for the majority of the half the conditions had deteriorated so badly that attacks were thwarted by slips and slides. As the half progressed it became impossible to identify who was who.

Despite the atrocious conditions Skewen managed to score a further try. Winger Mark Harvey retrieved a kick on the touchline and headed into midfield beating several defenders, good offloads and ball retention saw centre Andrew Collins cut a good angle back inside to score near the posts. Converted by Anthony Busselli 9-19.

By now the weather was so bad that any chances of scoring the bonus point try seemed to have been washed away. Several attempts came close but hard defence and a very slippery ball meant that crossing the line and holding on to the ball was nigh on impossible.

Builth finished on a high with final successful penalty to end the game. 12-19.

Final score Skewen 19 Builth 12

With Builth on a high and the weather on a low today had the potential for an upset. To score 3 tries to none in atrocious conditions against a side that in the past has caused us considerable grief shows just how far this side has come. It wasn’t just the win, it wasn’t just the score, it was the performance that was impressive.

Played 18 won 17.Points for 724 points against 141. Tries for 97 tries against 15

 

Skewen Team V Builth 

15 Gareth Morris

14 Mark Harvey 

13 Kevin James

12Andrew Collins (replaced by Mathew Billet)  

11 Mathew Billet (replaced by Jordan Adderley)

10 Anthony Busselli 

9 James Ball (replaced by Jamie Kirkhouse)​

8 Aled Mogford

7 Richard Davies

6 Joe Lewis

5 Ollie Thompson

4 Reece Jenkins  

3 Mark Jones (replaced by Jonny Gethin)

2 Rhodri Hughes (replaced by Steffan Bond)

1 James Reeves (replaced by Liam Grice)

 

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