Indigo Group Premiership Cup

Ironmen Leave North Wales With A Losing Bonus Point

RGC 23 MERTHYR 17 (Indigo Cup 7^th Round tie)

(Stadiwn Zip World, Parc Eirias, Old Colwyn)

The Ironmen’s recent winning run came to an abrupt end, on a blustery and wet autumnal afternoon on the North Wales coast.

Playing with the elements and towards the coast, the Ironmen in their away strip of racing green and gold, started positively, and were rewarded early on, the forwards and a back or two, crashing over from a driving lineout. The try scorer was unrecognisable owing to the volume of bodies on the deck. The try was later awarded to Ironmen Hooker Dan Wall, and was duly converted by outside half Gareth Thompson. The Ironmen leading 00-07.

From this point and for the remainder of the first half, the Ironmen lost their way, a combination of missed first up tackles, an increasing penalty count as RGC increased the tempo, and an unusually flat performance, allowed the Gogs to accumulate fifteen unanswered point. RGC points came courtesy of a penalty from Man of the Match Dion Jones; followed by an unconverted try from a driving lineout scored by Hooker Rhodri King, and then a converted try, Rhys Tudor leaving his wing to step the Ironmen defense from first phase lineout ball to score near the posts, making the conversion a formality. The Ironmen will be eager to understand the extent of the calf injury experienced by talisman Arron Pinches, who was forced to leave the field after 38′ replaced by Joshua Martin. The half finished 15-07, an off colour Ironmen already against it, down by two scores and the strengthening elements adding to the challenge.

The second half started with RGC again on the attack and now with the benefit of the elements, scoring a third albeit unconverted try through wingman Harri Evans to stretch their lead to thirteen (20-07).

Changes from the bench brought some life to the Ironmen performance, the motivational voice of Paddy McBride, audible from the stands, appearing to give the boys a lift. In this period, the Ironmen scored their second and third tries of the games, both courtesy of the piano movers, with prop Kelvyn Williams getting a brace. Both tries went unconverted, the kicking ask made virtually impossible in the blustery conditions. Unbelievably the score was now 20-17 and the Ironmen within striking distance.

The final quarter of the game was played in the Merthyr half, RGC pressurising for a bonus point try, thwarted only by the defensive work of No.9 James Soanes, who on balance, put in the best Ironman performance of the day. RGC’s 10 Dion Jones added a penalty to stretch the lead to 23-17. In the final minutes of the game, now played deep in the Ironmen half, a deliberate knock on by the RGC outside half Jones, did see the Gogs reduced to fourteen via a yellow card, although time was virtually up and the Ironmen unable to capitalise.

The game finished 23-17, RGC clocking up their second win of the campaign. RGC will question how they didn’t score a fourth and win by more. As for the Ironmen, they will look to dust themselves down quickly ahead of the #ValleysDerby and a now must win game. With Pontypridd visiting the Wern next weekend, the boys will look to evaluate why their traditional physical approach failed to fire. It was interesting to note that all three front row forwards went the distance, a big ask both physically and aerobically, against a side who pride themselves on fast flowing rugby. Kelvyn, Dan and Olly really did put a shift in!

A big thank you must go out to friends at Newtown RFC for their welcome and hospitality on our journey north.

TeamIronmen

MERTHYR: 15 B Jones, 14 S Jones, 13 A Pinches, 12 T Pascoe, 11 A Webber, 10 G Thomson, 9 J Soanes, 1 K Williams, 2 D Wall, 3 O Rees, 4 C Locke©, 5 C Bradbury, 6 M Tutaia, 7 J Perkins, 8 P Rees.
16 A Hughes, 17 J Luckett, 18 R Lewis, 19 S O’Rourke, 20 P McBride, 21 A Hoskins, 22 J Martin, 23 R Davies

Scorers. D Wall 1t, K Williams 2t, G Thompson 1c.