News

On Saturday the 27th February Skewen RFC left the clubhouse at 7.15 am to make the very long journey to North Wales for the long awaited cup match v BALA. Due to cancelations for bad weather in this and previous rounds we were playing round 3 when other teams were playing round 4.

It was obvious from the minute we got off the bus ,afternearly 5 hours of travelling, that this was going to be a win at all costs game for Bala who are riding high in Division 1 North.

Not only was the kick off put back from 2 pm to 230pm for no apparent reason, not only was the game moved from the 1stXV pitch, which looked in excellent condition, to the much smaller 2nd XV/ training pitch but even the barman in the club was telling all that this was to be the upset of the round.

Bala started with a flourish and within the first 15 minutes Skewen were losing 13-0. Handling mistakes by Skewen in and around their 22 were capitalised and well finished by Bala resulting in a converted try 7-0.

In this early period Skewen found it difficult to gain momentum and territory with a number of penalties being awarded against them, two of which were converted. 13-0 

Obviously shaken by the early onslaught both forwards and backs re grouped and began to gain both the momentum and territory missing in the 1st quarter.

On the 17th minute mark good pressure led to a rare penalty being awarded against the Bala pack. From the kick to touch a well taken line and rolling maul resulted in a try for 2nd row Reece Jenkins 13-5

3 minutes later quick ball enabled centre Tom Kingdom to take the ball into the midfield at pace, quick ball was fed to outside half Anthony Busselli who kicked behind the Bala defence, chased and received by winger Mark Harvey who raced over to score a try converted by Anthony Busselli 13-12.

The second quarter of the 1st half was very much a stop start affair, Skewen attacks being stifled by a series of penalties disrupting the play.

On the 38th minute Skewen outside half Anthony Busselli was able to successfully convert a rare kickable penalty taking the lead 13-15

Bala bounced back with their own converted penalty with the last kick of the 1st half to go in leading 16-15

On such a small field it was obvious that defences would have the upper hand and few good scoring opportunities were made. However as the 2nd half progressed possession and position were now favouring Skewen.

20 minutes into the half good phase play drove the ball into the Bala 22 enabling outside half Anthony Busselli to knock over a well-placed drop goal. 16-19

On the 35th minute a hard won penalty in the Bala half was well converted by outside half Anthony Busselli enabling Skewen to stretch the lead to 16-21.

Again on the 40th minute Skewen forwards were able to gain the territorial advantage which allowed outside half Anthony Busselli to drop his 2nd goal 16 -24.

Final score Bala 16 Skewen 24

It was a win and as far as cup rounds are concerned that’s all that is needed. It was never going to be easy and was made even more difficult when after a 5 hour journey the game was delayed by a further unexplained 30 minutes and transferred to an inferior quality and much smaller field.

The sign of a good team is that they can win when the chips are down. Despite the initial onslaught, the nefarious pre match tactics and the stop start nature of the game resulting from the number of penalties issued, everyone from no 1 to no 19 got stuck in and put in the hard graft required to grind out a cup win.

Next round (date tbf) we are playing Risca who are currently 8th in Division 1 East for a place in the quarter finals against the winners of Penclawdd and our nemesis from last year’s semi-final Ystrad Rhondda. The quarter final is due to be played on the 26th March when we were due to play Ammanford away.

Played 20 won 19.Points for 748 points against 156. Tries for 99 tries against 16

Skewen Team V Bala

15 Gareth Morris

14 Mark Harvey 

13 Kevin James 

12 Tom Kingdom

11 Jordan Adderley (replaced by Mathew Billet)

10 Anthony Busselli 

9 James Ball ​

8 Aled Mogford 

7 Richard Davies

6 Joe Lewis (replaced by Jaime Bodois)

5 Ollie Thompson

4 Reece Jenkins  

3 Jonny Gethin (replaced by Mark Jones)

2 Liam Grice (replaced by Steffan Bond)

1 James Reeves (replaced by Liam Grice)

Replacement not used Alex Dukes