Get in there

In the time of this writers time involvement with the youth have I ever witnessed a more determined team effort that was built on excellent discipline, excellent decision making and excellent defence, a team that was made up of the most loyal players you could ever meet it showed its true characters The team were asked to open the gates of hell and unleash the beserkers, they did that and more they released true heroes that had this been in ancient Rome would had stars and galaxies named after them.
From the kick off we kept up a pace that was relentless and hardly dropped a beat until the last minute of the game, whenever we had the ball we carried hard deep into their defensive wall , went through phase after phase with our support play was excellent they hardly had a sniff of a turnover or penalty all night, and whenever they had the ball we defended as if our lives depended on it closing down their space and options and forcing them either into touch or into making mistakes.
Our front five were excellent with Ross Beresford doing what was asked of him emptying his tank in the first half, Alfie Thomas carried hard all game and was always willing to depend and support, Ethan Murphy had an excellent lineout display hitting his jumpers every time, with Jack Duffy ruling the front of the lineout and spoiling virtually all their throws, their is nothing like a Duffy taunting you to put you off your game, and in Aaron Perkins we had a middle jumper who being supported by Sam Clarke was able to dominate the middle , I'm sure a bit more practice we would have dominated the back also. Aaron as captain led from the front tackled everything that moved and was uncharacteristically cool for a man of his complexion, give me a strawberry blonde any day they are made for rugby. The rest of the back row put a shift in that can only be described as hard and as deep as porn star on Viagra. Ben Davies was simply built for destruction his fringe defence was shuddering and his ball carrying was like a tank only going in one direction, and in Dan Messer we had the perfect foil to Aaron and Ben he carried with determination , time and again tackled hard and slowed down any ball they could muster. The number of times he carried 2 or 3 players with him well past the gain line was simply unbelievable.
At 9 Ben Ley linked excellently between forwards and backs making the right choices and making sure we were on the front foot continually, his service to Jac Newbury was excellent and this enabled him at times to relieve any pressure we were being put under. In the first have we kept using our runners and with Antonio Lezzi and JackThomas carrying strongly from these carries and from excellent support from our back row gave 2 penalty chances on 15 mins and on 25 minutes which Jac curled between the posts to give to give a 6 point lead as well as reaching the milestone of 100 points for the season. Whenever South Gower came under pressure their kicks found our back 3, with Matt Richards finding space and territory through strong ball returns, similarly Marcus Isaac and Joel Sinclair were strong in their carries and again their defence would not yield, whenever South Gower attacked midfield Antonio and Jacks attitude was you will not pass, if they cut back inside they would be cut down by our back row, it was this type of defence that meant that we were always on the front foot.
At half time we swapped our prop and on came Jazz to add a bit of extra weight to our scrum, shortly afterwards Max Hart came on both players added again more weight that turned our scrum into a solid attacking platform, in the first 10 minutes of the half we saw try scoring opportunities with Ben sniping and linking for Jack to be burst through and a pass out of the tackle finding the finger tips of Marcus who would have walked in had he held on. The pressure was not alleviated and a penalty was won 35 m out, at this time we were gaining momentum, but Aaron kept his head and asked Jac to shoot again into the wind when many thought a kick to the corner should of been opted for, Jac duly obliged and again hit the mark.
Now 9 points up we again pressed and from a ruck 5m out Ben Davies appeared to have scored but the grounding was missed and snaffled away by South Gower. We kept pressing, with South Gower relieving the pressure with the boot with the wind now behind them. However we would clear with booming kicks and our kick chase was excellent often giving the catcher no room. The remainder of the game was played out in the middle of the park, our defence was stretched a few times but did not yield, until the last play of the game in a half that seemed to go on forever 45 minutes apparently. Then with last play called a ricochet kick saw South Gower carry the ball again tackled short and wide, but a penalty saw them again carry to score in the corner, the conversion missed. The ref who in my opinion had excellent game blew his whistle, the euphoria from the Dunvant players was justified, and on a personal note is the proudest moment of my career with Dunvant, the 3rd year players have been though a lot in the last 5 years having lost players to clubs who were of the opinion that they could just help themselves, you cannot buy loyalty, they have fort to keep together, yielded a Wales under 18, a Llanelli squad player and a squad of players coming up will be bolstering the seconds are kicking the door in of the first team squad, they are not notice that that they cannot rest on your Laurels. They leave behind them a squad of players who have matured during the season and who played well above their age, they are going to become an ever formidable squad and will be bolstered by the Under 16's coming up who to give a well balanced squad that will be very competitive in all positions. They will be served by the remaining coaches who have served the youth team so well this year and I think have shown a willingness to try new things and to work with the players for the common good, developing the team to our strengths, with new coaches also coming up the level of enthusiasm will be maintained and it will serve the players well. Good luck lads over to you now. Next time we all meet lads it will be mid June and we will all have a good swig, and the players will be rewarded further for their effort