What a turnaround

6 weeks after playing Morriston in a friendly that we had lost 42-7 that had been in the main due to attitude, today we had a bare15 players who despite their moans about numbers wanted to play and when they got on the pitch put a massive shift in, Morriston turned up with 16 players who thought they were going to steam roller us with brute force and power. What they didn't realise is that it is often not size that matters, as today we had 15 warriors.
In our warm up our players seemed to show the steely attitude that was only lightened by the Marceaux Marceaux impressions the ref was giving in his warm up, in general he reffed the breakdown well and it was our discipline there that put us on top in the first 25 minutes.
With an interesting wind that was variable in direction but mainly in our favour we played rugby in the right places and after a series of penalties we got field position deep in the Morriston 22, from a series of rucks Ben Ley sneaked over with Jac Newbury converting. Morriston tried to attack from deep but were smashed back with their 8 ( I mean centre) the only one to get over the gainline. Jack Thomas and Ben Morgan were imperious in the centre and would not yield throughout the game, they were ably supported by Ethan Murphy who had his best and I would say man of the match performance of the season strong in the tackle and jackle, Ross Beresford who was showing he is a natural athlete carrying and tackling despite not having played since before Xmas, and the ever dependable Antonio Lezzi and Aaron Capt Perkins, with Max Harris also having his best game of the season.
In deed it was the good work of Alfie Thomas and Max that led to a penalty on the 10 yard line, that Jac popped over to give a 10 point lead.
As we kept playing we were gradually getting on top with a continuous stream of penalties, we did go absent for 5 minutes by trying to play from too deep, when we did enter the 22 we had returns, a penalty again in the 22 led to a decision to take a scrum which given the fact that scrums were passive was a good attacking choice, with a telepathic move called from the sidelines Antonio took off to hit Jack on a tight line to burst through the flat footed defence and show more bounce that Zebedee to score to the left of the posts, again converted by Jac.
Again from the kick off we pressed at pushed Morriston back with deep kicks, with Alfie carrying well and getting over the gainline though I'm sure Antonio wished that he didn't pass the ball with Ysbyty on it, however we again picked up another penalty to see Jac put over at 20 points up, we were growing more and more dominant. However a couple of sloppy pieces of play led to us being on the back foot we suddenly conceded 3 consecutive penalties that led to Antonio being sin binned which was very surprising given the number of penalties that had been given against Morriston in their 22, he did a brilliant impression of the wrong man and had to watch Morriston press on our line. Our defence was awesome as we knocked Morriston backwards and turned the ball over to put Jack Thomas away with the line clear for 60 m in front of him, however with 15m to go for some reason he slowed looking for support when he looked certain to score and given the pitch conditions could of slid in from 5m out. There the half ended and we looked to build on the score.
The start of the second half saw us try to attack from deep for a pass to bounce back off the shoulder to be given as a knock on, from their first real attacking position of the game Morriston after several attacks scored under the posts, by now Antonio was livid and couldn't wait to get on. We again put pressure on and our backs were playing with fluidity that has not been seen enough this season, the only thing preventing them truly cutting free was a heavy soaking but narrow pitch, Ben Morgan was finding space and Matt Richards was carrying hard especially around the fringes, an alternative career in the back row is an option. Marcus rip van winkle kept carrying well and Rhys George when he got the ball took the ball over the gainline, indeed a drive deep into the 22 saw the ball go through several phases backs and forwards recycling for Jack to be fed on a cute line to slide in again on the far left wing, Jac smashed the ball to take account of the swirling cross wind to only rattle the posts, his only missed kick of the day.
Almost immediately Morriston struck back when a weak tackle saw their busy hooker score to the right of the posts at that time it was 25 14, we did not panic and Jac was finding his outside runners and we kept pressing with penalties again mounting we took attacking chances Sam Clarke was doing a great job lifting and carrying from rucks and mauls and with the remainder of the pack putting in a team performance we got our rewards. A lineout saw us attack midfield and Ethan who had hit 95% of his lineout jumpers Aaaron and Max who both showed great athleticism power over to score, again Jac converted. By now Morriston were down to 13 players as our fitness and desire took hold of the game. They came out with an expected response, but we kept our discipline and Aaron even let one of them wipe the sweat away from his eyes with his fingers, never say gingers have short fuses.
The last 5 minutes saw us again raise our game and Ben Ley took a sharp try sneaking down the blind from the 22 to score in the corner, this time Jac held back on the power to put the ball and the game over.
A great team effort to all the boys who made the effort, this shows how with a couple of decent training sessions things can come together, lets hope it continues for the remainder of the season as we still have a cup semi to play. You got to be in it to win it lads