Fixture

Rhiwbina managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as Mount scored a try well into injury time.  And wouldn’t you know it – the conversion was successful, and the ref blew for time, making it 22-20 for the home team!

Whilst Mount dominated the scrums in the first half, Rhiwbina were excellent in open play and should have had a commanding lead at half time but for a number of missed chances.  It was a beautiful Autumn day for rugby and the Park Dyffryn Pennar pitch was in superb condition given the recent weather.  Rhiwbina started with a bang, scoring a try through Morgan Kneath after just three minutes following some slick passing, converted by newcomer Liam Herdman. Rhiwbina always looked dangerous with ball in hand but it was Mount who struck back with an unconverted try. Another good period of play in the far corner saw Rhiwbina squander two attacking lineouts but they made up for it with an excellent forward drive and a quick outside pass from Dave Gilbert found the alert Josh Moscardini on the wing and he dived over to score. Two great tackles by Liam Herdman stopped a Mount advance and then Liam kicked a penalty to make it 5-15 for the Squirrels. You could be excused for thinking that another prop had come onto the field as a replacement, but No17 actually went into the centre and was soon warming the bench again after he floored a Rhiwbina player with a late hit. Rhiwbina continued to be inventive and a few more chances went begging leaving the half time score 5-15 as the crowd were entertained with traditional Cynon Valley reggae music!

Mount struck back with an early second half penalty and then came a long period of Mount attack after attack with some superb Rhiwbina defending.  Time and time again the Mount drives were stopped and when Rhiwbina eventually regained possession Liam Herdman was flattened by a late hit by the aforementioned No17 who should have been shown a second yellow and a permanent place on the sidelines. However, it was Rhiwbina who broke away to score the next try as Josh Trewartha was on hand to touch down after a swift piece of inter-passing.  The conversion was missed making the score 8-20 with just ten minutes remaining. Chris Williams broke away upfield but the Squirrels lost the ball only to see Mount win a penalty try to make the score 15-20.

The restart was kicked straight into touch as the electric clock seemed to stop on 37 minutes! Yet more defensive work by Rhiwbina foiled the Mount forward drive but as we entered several minutes of injury time the Rhiwbina faithful feared the worse. And wouldn’t you know it – the No17 who shouldn’t even have be on the field, finally barged his way over for a Mount try as the crowd hushed for the deciding conversion. Over it went and the home faithful were very happy as the ref blew for time. It was such a shame for the Squirrels who had shown great determination and team work both in attack and especially in defence, only to let the victory slip from their grasp in the last seconds.