Fixture

Rocks and Squirrels produce exciting 34-34 draw

It was a relief to see the Rocks running out in their normal green and black hoops after their first half  shirt malfunction at Caedelyn. It was a great afternoon for rugby at Minster Road and the pitch was in superb condition.  It was a case of early Bird for Rhwbina (the Diggy version that is) as he kicked an early penalty on his Rhiwbina return, but that was soon cancelled out by an Alex Lloyd penalty for the Rocks.  The crowd were then treated to a great and close game of rugby with 9 tries and lots of fizz – some of it prosecco rather than champagne!

Rhiwbina scored the first two tries in a five minute burst. First Pat Ware crossed under the posts after a lovely set up by captain Jamie Deabreu.  Then Olly Golden made a typical scything run and the ball quickly found its way to the always-dangerous Elliot Jones who made the final pass to Alex Cooke who crossed for the try.  Yes – you did read that correctly – Cookie was back and went on to have a great game after a long absence.  Diggy Bird converted both tries to make it 3-17 for the Squirrels.  But then it was the Rocks’ turn as first, a rolling maul led to a try by Jack Rogers and then a period of further pressure saw Lewis Heyland score their second try.  McCauley Coombes converted both and slotted over a penalty between the two tries to make the score 20-17 to the Rocks after just 25 minutes of frantic action.

Rhiwbina Youth product Elliot Fowler came on to replace Olly Golden, and then that man Elliot Jones was on hand to finish off a slick blind-side move to cross for Rhiwbina’s third try to make it 20-22 to the visitors.  Bird missed a penalty and Rhiwbina fluffed their last chance of the half to score as an attacking line out was squandered, making it 20-22 at the break.

From the restart the Rocks were penalised and a quick line out saw Alex Cooke make a clean break to hand on to Elliot Jones who crossed for his second try, converted by Bird to make it 20-29.  There were lots of player substitutions and the ref could have done with a secretary! Brett Chatwin also came on making his return to the Squirrels after a long absence.

The Rocks then found themselves in the top corner and after a lot of pressure Mbemi crashed through to score a try, converted by Coombes.  A real comedy of errors then handed the Rocks another chance and from 10 metres out Josh Nolan broke through to score, converted by Coombes to make it 34-29 to the Rocks. But the Squirrels weren’t finished and right from the kick-off they won the ball and Alex Cooke put through a clever kick which was gathered by James Mitchell who scored in the far corner.  The try was not converted which brought the scores level at 34-34.

Breaks by Olly Golden, Elliott and Chris Williams almost led to a Rhiwbina try and then there was a final push by the Rocks in the top corner in a frenetic and error-strewn period of additional time. Eventually the whistle went and everyone could breath again, especially the ref as he was running out of space in his notebook.