Athletic 2022-23

Match Report: Porth 46 – 0
MerthyrAth are Top of the League!!!

Friday Night Lights returned shortly after Christmas and although some potential Christmas pudding and turkey had been shifted during training on the Wednesday before, there were some concerns about how much Turkey and Christmas Cheer had been consumed and would this effect performance???
Good news as the return of injured pair Kieron Thomas and Kane Roberts bolstered the squad for the visit of a well established Porth 2nd XV. Joe Richards joined as a new player and trained well in his first session.

The game started at a flurry with both teams challenging each other in various facets. Some big hits pleased the crowd early on. The breakthrough try came from an interception by robust centre Hellard. it was uncertain who had the most disappointed face when this occurred; the Porth ten who threw the pass, or Daf, as he realised, he had to sprint forty meters to touchdown. Luckily the hamstrings held out and Hellard crashed over. Porth enjoyed some long periods camped in the Merthyr half after this, with two noticeable interventions from Hennessey at ten, first a spiral touch kick that relieved pressure, the second was a punt down field that had seemed to waste a would be overlap – however Iwan “the Salmon” Thomas this time became “The Cheetah” as he sprinted passed would be defenders, dribbled like Messi and touched down for a great break away try. Other breaks during the half came from energetic flanker Thomas on his return – that saw him faced with a long sprint to the touchdown – too long sadly as the cover defence caught up. From the resulting phases Hellard this time changed direction “Gasps from the Crowd” this had not been seen since his youth days, to canter over – a very pleasing half that saw Merthyr lead 19-0 at the half, Rio added the conversions.

With a big squad present changes were made, despite a full change at front row there was no power lost from what was a strong scrum. A notable mention for Nathan Thomas (Chunk) who lasted significantly longer than his requested 10minutes, although Dan Murphy can be accredited with some of this accolade as he seemed very impressed and wanted Chunk to stay on “No Rush” were his comments when asked about changing on several occasions. Even more pleasing was later in the game when other changes were made the scrum seemed to grow in effectiveness. Butler added some brawn with a few big runs and a couple of crunching tackles – only to then signal to touch “times up”. Luckily the “Cheetah – Slamon” had recovered from his first half sprints and was able to re-enter the fray.

The scores kept coming: Kieron Thomas grabbed a brace one in particular that saw him pick a cute angle that Captain Rees spotted and his perfect timed pass saw Thomas strut over. Next came what seemed to be try of the game – Rees placed a box kick into space, with a strange bounce eluding everyone except the long grasp of Cottrill who gathered with one hand and waltzed over with ease. However, there was still better to come – “Disco hands Dan” produced the offload of the Year with a slip out the back only to see evergreen Cav – sprint/bash/evade/smash his way over – the five meters was extended in the after match chat to 40+ meters and family arguments continue about scoring or making tries and which is most important.

As the game closed out the game became disjointed – mainly due to the number of changes. There was a few unique incidents to finish – Alex Jones managed an amazing cross field kick that saw Jessie running backwards to catch before nearly scoring and saving the embarrassment of Alex (DOTD Award). Cheetah-Salmon was offered another opportunity to spint 70meters to score – which he took once again – only to be attacked after placing the ball down – we are still awaiting reports from PCH about the extent of his injuries.
MOTM award was tightly contested with Tyler – Cottrill – Salmon – Perks all performing well upfront. In the backs Davies as always was elusive and creative, Jessie Evans was like a scud missile in defence – savinf several potential tries. Rhys Davies (the enforcer as he likes to be known) picked up the spoils for some strong tackling and strong running. Post-match rituals were stalled for next week. Happy new Year!