Fixture

Opportunities missed as Squirrels slip up to Athletic

On a great afternoon for rugby, Rhiwbina didn’t take advantage of their dominance in the final quarter and allowed Bridgend Athletic to squeeze home by 5-9. The Squirrels were camped in the scoreboard corner in the closing minutes, but just couldn’t ignite the spark to score that vital winning try.

Lue Bevan gave Athletic the lead with the first of his three penalty kicks in a scrappy first half, regularly punctuated by the ref’s whistle, with some of the decisions baffling the Rhiwbina faithful.  Ben Sharif always looked dangerous with ball in hand, and it was from one his many breaks that Rhiwbina scored an excellent first half try.  The ball went through several pairs of hands with the excellent Pat Ware making a key break to pass to Matt Williams who broke several tackles to get over in the fire-station corner. Rhiwbina then had a great forward drive from a line out in the same corner, but somehow Athletic stopped the drive and the opportunity was lost and score remained 5-3 at the break.

Luke Bevan kicked two further penalties to take Athletic ahead.  Then came those final minutes when Ben Sharif again and again broke through and the Squirrels were camped in the scoreboard corner. There were three high tackles against Athletic and a yellow card, but try as they could, Rhiwbina just couldn’t make it across the line.