Fixture

Brecon RFC | Youth Team Under 18 31 - 0 Pontyclun RFC | Youth Team Under 18
Jonathan Davies
Try 1
Joshua Pritchard
Try 1
Tudor Roderick
Try 3
Dafydd Edwards
Conversion 3

Match Report
19 September 2016 / Team News

BRECON YOUTH 31 PONTYCLUN YOUTH 0

A new season has seen Brecon Youth rugby team faced with a number of changes to both its playing personnel and its coaching team. The Brecon club's successful policy of bringing people through internally has been manifest in Martin Keylock becoming a key part of the senior coaching team, and a number of last seasons players also moving up to add value to the senior set up. Those changes have been offset by Alan Taylor bringing his enthusiastic and under stated approach to support Huw Phillips, who enters his fourth season as part of the coaching team, whilst a strong cohort of players have moved up from the junior set-up to bolster an already strong squad.

The success of previous seasons, and the style of rugby that the team has played, notwithstanding the rotation of players, meant that expectations are high for the team for this season, particularly in terms of developing an exciting brand of rugby that enables the participants to enjoy and play with a smile on their faces, and also means that the regular spectators continue to commit to following the squad.

The early games, including pre-season fixtures, had brought a mixture of results as the team seeks to gel together as the younger players are assimilated into the set-up, and also frustrations that the previous week's fixture had resulted in one of the team's more disappointing performances in recent times. Following this, there was a keen awareness and drive to improve matters in Saturday's home fixture against the visiting Pontyclun.

The fine September weather, and the green expanse of the fast playing surface at Parc de Pugh, meant that new captain Wil Prosser and his charges were aware of the opportunity they had to set down a marker for the season.

The early exchanges saw the visitors defend resolutely as Brecon sought to set a high tempo of play, and it is to the credit of Pontyclun that they thwarted a number of attacking opportunities for the home team. Notwithstanding, the Brecon squad started to remove early season rustiness and were able to develop their multi-phase, fluid game, in which all players are afforded opportunities to contribute.

The starting front row of Josh Pritchard, Rhys Evans, and the improving Tommy Witcomb, were prominent in providing a strong base from which to launch the more expansive game, and Josh in particular is showing some fine early season form as he makes the step-up from junior rugby. The second row also played their part in these exchanges with the consistent excellence of Rowan Starkey being complemented by an exuberant return to the playing fields by Daf Havard who has been a real presence in the loose. Thriving on this base, the back row were also influential with Harry Preece returning to his combative best, Steve Hughes providing an all round physical edge, and skipper Wil being a real talisman with the yardage he makes with ball in hand.

Behind this impressive unit, the back line are starting to develop a real purpose in their play and are starting to string together some consistent and cohesive movement. Scrum half Jac Powell remains a smooth link, looking to give some real direction prior to his departure to Bath University, whilst outside him, an increasing confidence level means that dynamic fly half Gareth Price is adding an assured authority to his vibrant attacking intent. Inside centre Ben Kenchington is another who looks assured, and a focal presence, after his step up from the junior ranks, whilst outside him, Tudor Roderick's return to the rugby paddock has provided a significant attacking edge with his powerful and pacy running, and innate ability to seek out scoring opportunities. The back three of wingers Sammy Hellard and Ryan Price, and full back Dafydd Edwards have the capacity to provide a mixture of pace, power, and guile, although they perhaps did not see as much of the ball as they will hope to as the season progresses.

The first half of the game had seen Brecon develop a number of attacking opportunities although, as outlined above, the sterling visiting defence had prevented the home attacking intent being matched by points on the score board. The successes they had enjoyed saw Josh Pritchard score the first of the game following some fine interplay and passing by the forwards, whilst centre Tudor cut a magnificent line from one move to run in from 30 metres for a second. A successful conversion from Dafydd Edwards saw the half time whistle see the home team enjoy a 12-0 lead.

The half time talk would have seen the coaching staff praise the effort and commitment of the team, yet also highlight areas of improvement such as the need to improve communication and to react to what unfolded in front of them. This would enable a greater them fluency to evolve, with the carrying of the ball being spread amongst the whole team. Additionally there was a need for increased communication and awareness of what was available in the wider channels.

The second half saw the home team develop some promising attacking opportunities and, as has been a key factor in recent seasons, the strong bench saw real value and quality being added to the team as the coaches gave opportunities for all to be involved. Scrum half Geraint Workman continued to add fluency and was a hugely effective link to the exciting back line. Amongst the pack, Fraser Thomas enjoys an impressive introduction to Youth rugby, whilst Dan Stroud stepped into the heat of the front row and performed well. Finn Starkey is another who, having only recently come of age to play at this level, looks assured when performing, whilst Josh Hamilton proved that, when he returns fully from injury, he will be a dynamic presence in the team. Another replacement, Jonny Davies, returned to his consistent form of last year, and his footballing intelligence saw him follow up a Gareth Price chip ahead to add one of three tries that the home team scored in the second half.

The further scores came from the influential Tudor Roderick who, along with Josh Pritchard, was one of the stronger home performers. The tries scored coincided with the home team developing that greater fluency, and overcoming the rather staccato nature of the game to impress with ball in hand. The final try in particular was an indication of what the coaching team would wish to see, and what the playing squad should aspire to. The additional replacements of Lewis Watkins and Kian Davies saw the pace and power of the strike runners being maintained and Brecon entered the final five minutes with a 31-0 lead with the additional points added by the boot of fullback Edwards.

The final phases of the game saw the visitors raise their own attacking standards and press for a well deserved score of their own. However, and as an indication of the increasing focus and composure of the Brecon squad, the home team defence was impressively resilient and they managed to deny Pontyclun the score they sought to complete a hugely improved performance, from which they will be able to build on as they look to move their season on.

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