Bridgend Ravens 24 Merthyr 27

THOMPSON SEALS WIN FOR THE IRONMEN

BRIDGEND RAVENS 24 MERTHYR 27 (Friday 27/08/21)

The Ironmen travelled to the Brewery field home of the Bridgend Ravens for a pre-season friendly and came away with a win thanks to a last-minute penalty from outside half Gareth Thompson in a game of two halves.  Merthyr had the early pressure with great ball carrying from captain Craig Locke and number 8 Paddy McBride and from a forward surge Number 8 McBride was driven over from short range to give the Ironmen the lead, Thompson converting. Merthyr’s new back division looked very dangerous with ball in hand and had Bridgend in trouble on several occasions. Bridgend then struck back with several forward drives near the Ironmen line and after conceding several penalties home number 8 Travis Huntley crashed over from short range, Chilcott adding the points to make the game all square at 7-7.

This seemed to lift the home side and once again they came back at the Ironmen but a dropped pass inside the 25 was hacked up field by full back Ben Jones and with great footballing skills controlled the ball to find outside half Thompson on his right-hand side and the clever kick was kicked on by Thompson who touched down for Merthyr’s second try, Thompson converting his try to give the Ironmen a 7-14 lead.  Scrum half Soanes was linking well with his back line and several good runs from Teri Gee had Bridgend in trouble and only good home defence preventing a score. However, it was the Merthyr’s pack that led to the third try with great pressure near the Bridgend line with back row man Dafydd Stonelake winning ball on the ground to find prop forward Kelvin Williams up in support to crash over for Merthyr’s third try, and a 7-19 lead. Then just before half time a sweeping back line move saw wingman Sam Jones race away in the corner to give the Ironmen a 7-24 half time lead.

The second half began with the home side taking the game to Merthyr and following a neat three quarter move full back Edd Howley raced away for the first of his two tries and close the gap to 12-24. Howley was soon on the scoresheet once again when a lack of concentration and missed tackles in the Merthyr defence allowed Howley to race in at the corner, Howe going wide with the kick. Merthyr struggled to keep possession and were guilty of silly handling errors which gave Bridgend the upper hand and it was replacement outside half Jamie Murphy that got a try following some good handling from the Bridgend backs, Howe converted to draw the scores level at 24-24. With time running out both sides spun the ball looking for a winning score which came to Merthyr when Bridgend gave away a penalty just over the halfway line which saw Thompson convert to give Merthyr a 24-27 victory.

Both sides during the second half made a lot of changes which seemed to unsettle Merthyr more than Bridgend. It was a good run out for the players which allowed the coaches to look at several new players for the up-and-coming season. Captain Locke led the side well as usual, well supported by McBride and an impressive performance from back row man Stonelake. Behind the scrum half backs Soanes and Thompson linked well together, and both wings Jones and Webber looked dangerous together with full back Ben Jones.

Merthyr (Starting xv), 15 Ben Jones,14 Sam Jones, 13 Terri Geri,12 Tom Pascoe, 11 Alex Webber, 10 Gareth Thompson, 9 James Soanes, 1 Chris Phillips, 2 Will Evans, 3 Kelvin Williams, 4 Craig Locke, 5 Callum Bradbury, 6 Jack Perkins, 7 Dafydd Stonelake, 8 Paddy Mc Bride.

Second half players, James Howe, Sam Evans, Shaun O’Rourke, Rhys Thomas, Rhys Davies, Justin James, Tyler Morris, Adam Hoskins, Gareth Davies.