Fixture

Rhiwbina fight-back overcomes Cowbridge 

Rhiwbina faced Cowbridge, second in Division Two East Central, at a windy Cardiff Met ground in the semi final of the Cardiff & District Mallett Cup on Tuesday night. A tremendous and determined performance saw the Squirrels turn around a half time deficit of 14 points to win 25-17 and deservedly progress to the final.

Cowbridge had the strong wind behind them in the first half, but Rhiwbina had the majority of early possession and kept the ball in their hands.  Elliot Jones was safe under the high ball, then a series of Cowbridge lineouts were repelled by the Rhiwbina defence.  Captain Jamie Deabreu frequently broke out of defence and went on to have a man of the match performance in all aspects of play – really leading from the front. Chris Williams finally led a Rhiwbina attack across the Cowbridge 20 metre line after an interception, but just when it looked like the Squirrels would score the Cowbridge right winger intercepted a Rhiwbina pass and raced the length of the field to score an unconverted try.  Rhiwbina stole a series of Cowbridge lineouts, where Jack Corney was always in the thick of things, and another Elliot run out of defence held Cowbridge at bay.  The first real Cowbridge pressure led to a try after a forward drive and this try was converted.  James Mitchell caught the clever kick off by Charlie Elton and had a number of other great runs out of defence, along with Seb Ripley and Rhiwbina were rewarded for their efforts with a Charlie Elton penalty to reduce the deficit. But then, another ill-judged pass gifted Cowbridge a second interception try and put them ahead 3-17 at the interval.

Jamie Deabreu again led the way after the re-start, opening up a gap for Elliot to slice through to score, with a superb conversion by Charlie. After a series of transgressions, a Cowbridge player was finally shown a yellow card, but further Rhiwbina pressure didn’t result in a try.  Ben Thomas was unlucky not to be awarded a try when he charged down a Cowbridge kick, but the pressure at last told and it was Ben Thomas who crossed for a deserved try. Charlie’s conversion went narrowly wide, but he more than made up for it with some monstrous clearance kicks after a series of Cowbridge attacks came to nothing. Another Charlie bomber saw Rhiwbina parked on the Cowbridge 10 metre line and a series of forward drives resulted in a try by Cuan Rowlands, converted by Charlie.  Ben Thomas was then sent to the naughty step for the closing minutes, but the Rhiwbina defence held firm and they were rewarded with a penalty kick under the posts, which Charlie slotted over.

The referee found a considerable amount of additional minutes from somewhere, but Rhiwbina remained solid and ran out deserved 25-17 winners.  It really was a game of two halves, with an error-riddled first half against the wind, but a masterful second half showing the Squirrels at their determined best, sending the large Rhiwbina contingent away happy.

The provisional date for the Mallett Cup Final has been set for Saturday 7^th May at Cardiff Arms Park against Dinas Powys or Rumney.