Fixture

The efforts of the players and coaches over 21 games now rested on  the last two matches,  wins in one or both and it would be great joy . In the way last Saturday were the fast improving Wattstown. 

Wattstown,looking much stronger than in the away fixture, tarted well  but again the front row of Bater , Boxall and John had the measure of their opponents. 6 minutes in great work from Bater initially saw a beautiful break in midfield  by centre Alex Guard then out to outside half Tom James and back inside to Craig Boxall for a 60 metre try . A superb conversion from close to the touchline  by Zac Summerhayes eased the nerves. Ten minutes later a 35 metre scything run by wing Will Williams went pear shaped when a dropped pass and kick upfield  brought a penalty for Wattstown to narrow the score. At the mid point combined defence from flanker Joe Davies and No 8 Dan Holder , a feature throughout the game , allowed a fantastic break by fellow back rower and captain Richie Howson over 30 metres  and then a popped pass to supporting left wing Tom Harrison to crash over. Another sublime conversion by Summerhayes took the score out to 14-3. Petulance by Watstown right wing probably deserved a yellow card,however Summerhayes popped over the penalty . A number of teams have tried to out-muscle Cowbridge but the team have stood up each of  them and no difference here as Wattstown made determined efforts to score  before half time but were repelled time and again with Howson,second rows Kieran David and Jack Anderson to the fore.

The second half saw Wattstown burst out of the blocks and again  great defence with Howson producing 2 amazing tackles in succession to drive them back . After fully 10 minutes of pressure Guard made another lovely break to sweep play up field . Changes saw  scrum half Adam Dix and wing Harry Thomas on a replacements . For killing the ball a further penalty took the score out to 20-3 and another to 23-3.  Wattstown now would have to score 3 converted tries to win.  With 10 minutes left , after a monumental effort , Holder came to off and Rhys Price raced on. Summerhayes with a tight calf came to the side and crowd favourite Dai Breed entered the fray. Having stopped Wattstown crossing their line for 39 minutes after another tackle that drove their prop back by Howson the ball came back on their side and was moved to their inside centre to find a gap for a converted try. The final whistle brought a score line of 23-10.  Mention should also be made of centre Jamie Bennett who took the ball up to make hard yards on numerous occasions , but this was a superb team effort to secure promotion,much to the delight of everybody associated with Cowbridge rugby

Our last game is home against Canton on Wednesday 2nd May KO 18.45 and there will a report and round up of the season in next week's Gem.

Many congratulations to Max Cunnington who has been selected for Team GB Youth squad to play in Lithuania on May 5-6 and in the Youth Olympics taking place in Argentina on October 1-6.Well done Max,a fantastic achievement.

Last but not least the Youth are playing Rumney in the Blues Youth South Cup Final at Canton RFC this Saturday.The kick off is 15.30 and a coach will be leaving the club at 14.00 so let's get a good crowd going to support the boys.

RK/RV