Fixture

Five points in the Caedelyn gloom

The Squirrels secured a bonus-point win against visitors Ynysybwl in very gloomy conditions at Caedelyn thanks to another great team performance and outstanding all-round displays from Olly Collis and Pat Ware, who were always in the thick of the action.

Bwl started well and only some tremendous defence from the Squirrels kept them out.  The deadlock was broken after ten minutes when Elliot Jones intercepted a pass on his own 22 to sprint the length of the field to score under the posts.  Elliot converted to give the Squirrels a 7-0 lead.

Then came a very nasty incident as the Bwl No 10 collapsed and suffered a severe medical incident which scared both players and spectators alike.  Thankfully he recovered enough after a 10 minute stoppage to walk to the changing rooms. He subsequently left to go to A&E and all at Rhiwbina wish him well.

From the restart Rhiwbina were penalised and Bwl slotted over the penalty. Elliot got Rhiwbina on to the front foot straight away with a superb long kick into the far corner. Rhiwbina then kept the ball tight and drive after drive saw them then spin the ball left and there was Alex Cooke to cross near the posts, and Elliot converted. A further score should have come as they once again pressurised the Bwl defence in the fire-station corner.  Bwl suffered another blow as one of their props went off injured, but to their credit, they defended manfully throughout.  However, they couldn’t cope with another extended period of ball retention by the Squirrels as Olly Golden made ground to set up a maul under the posts and Dave Gilbert shot through for the try, converted by Elliot to make it 21-3 at the break.

Such was the gloom that the training lights had to be switched on at the start of the second half, and Rhiwbina soon secured their bonus point as further good handling led to Olly Collis crossing for a well-deserved try. Bwl were further hampered by a yellow card shown to their right wing for a deliberate knock-on, but their defence held out until another run by Olly Golden saw Ben Thomas cross in the scoreboard corner.

Bwl prevented any further Rhiwbina scores and thankfully the ref sensibly blew up a few minutes early as the lights completely went out at Caedelyn.