Athletic Friendly

Denver’s Last Dance

Resolven were the opposition for what promised to be an emotional evening as the curtain came down on a stella career for one of Merthyr’s finest stalwarts. Gareth ‘Denver’ Williams having started with Merthyr at U9’s some many moons ago was humbled, excited and enthusiastic to run onto the hallowed turf at the Wern – One Last Time. Having said that – he didn’t make the starting team!

Some early logistical and organisational problems saw the debut of H2O Coordinator Matthew “Mazo” Sutton curtailed as we had a Waterboy but no Water bottles. We eventual scraped a few and Mazo was welcomed by the team with open arms, and we appreciate his support moving forward.

H2O Coordinator in the thick of things – Given Coaching Tips to Thomas and Replenishing Try Scorer Morgan with some “Quality H2O”. Is this our new “Bromance”????

Resolven arrived with a undefeated record in their respective league and looked a formidable outfit. Merthyr with a squad of 34 for the evening new they were in for a tough battle. Early exchanges saw much movement into both 22’s. A clear break from Thomas (7) set Merthyr on the charge, fraughted by a scramble defence for Resolven to bounce back and Merthyr challenged to defend. Tyler produced the next barnstorming run, again Resolven held strong.

Resolven were the first to break through with a try wide out. Conversion was neatly placed, Merthyr trailed 0-7. Shortly after this Merthyr enjoyed extended territory in the Resolven half and looked likely to score. Some poor decisions or dubious refereeing calls kept them out.

Lineouts – Lineouts -Lineouts: Cottrill and Thomas could be excused for dropping the ball with the Glare of Bald Heads below them:

Merthyr produced as previous weeks inconsistencies in their performance, some phases were executed well with forwards Caviel, Davies (8) and Murphy running good lines of 9 trying to get gain line superiority, only to be let down by slow support, making the turnover inevitable. Set piece was once again strong and with lineout work of Thomas (6) and Thomas (7) providing some quality ball for the backs, Rees and Jones at half-backs are starting to form a more efficient partnership that allowed the backs more time and space to create. The elusive runners were allowed to express themselves – Davies (15) once again shone, he clearly ready the pre-match title – Last Dance as that is what he did = through the defenders. He was well supported by wingers Ongun and Blandford who offered variety with one offering speed and guile while the other was direct – you work it out.  Jones (12) is becoming consistent with his gainline runs and formed a crisp partnership with Evans (13) in his first start since returning from a broken foot in the summer. The later broke the line several times with his deceptive speed and produced the moment of the half to give Merthyr their first score 7-7 at half-time after Jones (10) added the conversion.

 

Changes were made prior to the half and at half-time – despite this Merthyr still looked capable of winning and should potential be leading at the half. Captaincy changed from Rees to Caviel at the half, Cav inspired the troops with a Michael Sheen like speech that saw them leaving the changing room with steam expressing from nearly every orifice.

Although the initial endeavours and passion were easy to see – Resolven offered organisation and resolve and as a result picked up the next score and with a conversion, they lead 14-7 at this stage probably rightly so.

With a squad of 34, much thought went into game time and balancing the team to ensure there was the correct amount of youthful exuberance and good old-fashioned experience. With that said on came the cavalry including the evergreen Price and the Main Man for the Evening “Denver”. With plenty of time left the intensity and direct running was causing problems for Resolven, however they proved difficult to break. Price kept charging, Cottrill joined in and offered plenty of energy to boot, Denver boshed in, Burns kept going, Hard hitting Hellard hurtled froward, Tyler was to the fore – it was relentless. The only flaw was the often confusion in pattern that resulted in the wrong options being taken and as a result letting Resolven of the hook. Much of this can be accredited to the large squad and significant changes – something to consider for the backroom staff moving forward.

 

Jones (10) in his final touch prior to departing took a quick tap penalty – feed Jack Wills who released Dan Morgan on the wing for a great try. 14-12 – sadly the conversion was missed. This built for a great final twenty minutes.

The changes kept coming with eight centres available three new partnerships were established: Jones and Evans started and with age on their side look to have significant potential. Henessey and Jack (anyone seen his tracksuit?) Wills were next and provided a good blend of Youth and Experience, last were Jacobs and G-Minett again showing the strength in depth available. Thomas (15) and Hellard (6) could have also offered a fourth partnership but were selected in different positions to allow increased game time to many – both showed their versatility in adapting in their chosen positions. Hellard enjoyed the confrontation of the backrow, while Thomas looked comfortable under the high ball.

Denver requested that an old friend from afar could share the field with him one last time “Spencer” was the name given, the Coaches got excited at the prospect of Carlos Spencer attending and gracing the wern.

Expectation V Reality

Despite our sadness at not seeing Carlos Spencer, Our Spencer rolled back the years, took over the orchestrating baton and marshalled the troops back into focus – bringing Jacobs and G-Minett into the game well on several occasions.

In the closing stages Merthyr still hammered home but to no avail, debutant Thomas (1) and Butler added extra weight the scrum, while replacement hooker Davies looked comfortable at lineout and with ball in hand. The final act saw Merthyr give a sloppy penalty that allowed Resolven to end the game with a 3 pointer. Final score 17-12

Man of the Match was inevitable given to “Denver” a well deserved award for his energy, hard running and organisational skills on field. He will be missed by many but now offers the next crop of Merthyr stars his knowledge and experience and hopefull will discover the next rising star. Donkey of the day went to Jones (10) for his U9’s tap penalty that resulted in a turnover – although he was closely followed by Mullins for seeing yellow! The post match ritual created a master class in guzzling – and as a result Jones trotted off around the field. Again a crowd of female observes arrived and his finale was well acknowledged.