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27 September 2017 / Club News

match reports 23rd & 24th Sept

Good evening all!! 
Hope you are sat comfortably and fancy a good old read about this weekends going’s on at Machen RFC! Yet again some fantastic reporting! 
A mixed bag of results but a lot of positives to be found! Enjoy the read
☕️ 📖 ☕️ 📖☕️📖☕️📖☕️📖☕️📖

🏉Firsts - Machen 17-22 Abergavenny 
Unfortunately it’s 2 defeats on the bounce and seems to be a familiar story, super slow start costing us again!
Moved up a couple of gears towards the end but to little to late. I’m putting it down to us not liking playing on the back pitch!! Saturday will see us back on the front pitch and hopefully back
To winning ways!

🏉Seconds - Penarth 19- 44 Machen
Enough can’t be said about this performance, when you walk into the club at 12pm and you get asked to get your boots on you would be safe in thinking that it’s going to be a long day!
But they managed to leave with a 15 strong squad and trucked off to penarth and BOOM!! Start to finish a fantastic performance from all!! Keep it going boys!!

🏉Youth - Blackwood 15-12 Machen
A bitter Pill for our Youth team to swallow on Saturday as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory up at Blackwood in their first league game.
After clawing themselves back from 10-3 down, Machen went into the last 3 mins leading 12-10 only to give away a penalty deep in their 22. Blackwood tapped and drove to the try line recycling well to score the vital try to win the game 15-12. The boys were left very disappointed but realised that if you constantly give needless penalties away then winning is going to be that much harder. The penalty count was way to heavy in the oppositions favour. However we did secure a losing bonus point as a consolation.
This coming Saturday the Youth are on the road again for the sixth consecutive game to play Aberdare in the WRU National Youth Bowl. All support will be welcomed.

🏉Under 8's continue their unbeaten start to the season. 
Great performances for today's away fixtures, three really close games with Machen's defence being the difference. A fantastic team effort with all our new players weighing in with plenty of Tags and supporting play. Fantastic running with and without the ball gained Machen 3 wins. 
Results were:-
Win v Abercynnon A 5-2
Win v Abercynnon B 4-2
Win v Tonyrefail 6-4
Thanks to all the parents for their support.

🏉We have a regular columnist on the news desk over in the under 14’s
Fantastic effort it’s almost like you’re there!!

Due to injuries and other availability issues, Machen Under 14s travelled to Monmouth with a bare 15 to take on a combined St Julians / Monmouth RFC side now named St. Mon.

Those travelling supporters and officials taking advantage of the breakfast options in the club house gave the facilities a big thumbs up (3 rashers of bacon per roll), and Monmouth RFC now sits at the top of the league table of away club houses for the season so far.

The merger between St Julians and Monmouth comes as a result of the fact that both clubs are short of players in this age group, and it is to both clubs great credit that they are working so hard to continue to provide Rugby for those who wish to continue.

Machen got proceedings under way with Ben taking the kick off, and the early exchanges led to a penalty for the home side. They ran it, but a strong tackle by Callum led to a turnover and Machen were on the attack. The ball was spun out to Logan on the wing but he was well tackled. Ronnie made good yards with a powerful run, before Dylan almost crossed for the first score. A scrum to the home side saw them launch a high kick which they chased with purpose. George at full back never took his eye off the ball and gathered it without breaking stride in the certain knowledge that having taken the ball, he would also be taking a big hit. A scrum to Machen ensued and the ball went quickly through the hands, with Tom giving a nice offload to Logan out of the back of the hand. Logan was again well tackled but the quickly recycled ball found its way to Josh who decided to take the long route on this occasion and ran around the defence to score. 0-5

Following the restart, a dropped ball near the Machen line led to a try to the home team. 5-5. The home side then led 10-5 following a breakaway try after the Machen midfield defence was sucked in.

Being behind seemed to focus Machen minds and following a sniping run by Rob from the base of a scrum, they were awarded a penalty which was kicked to touch. It was a good job the game was not being played at the Principality Stadium as Connor would have hit his head on the roof such was the height of the line-out lift. With the ball secured, it was not long before Logan was in at the corner for a well taken try. 10-10.

From the restart, a nice run from Connor followed by a silky offload to Gethyn led to a series of phases which ended with Josh crossing under the posts. Callum was on kicking duties on the day, and he found his range with this one to make it 10-17.

The ball bounced awkwardly following the restart, but Aaron showed good hands to take it and again the forwards gained enough forward momentum to set Josh off again, and the home defence once again found themselves watching him touch down under the posts, as he completed his hat-trick. Callum again made no mistake with the conversion. 10-24.

Callum was quickly involved again, this time with some good work on the ground and the ball popped up to Josh who was in under the posts yet again, making it easy for Callum to pick up the extra two points. 10-31.

Tom took a knock on the knee, and the referee blew for half time.

The home team kicked off the second half and Ieuan called confidently and took the ball. Machen conceded a penalty for offside and the home team kicked to touch. Machen stole the line out, but then lost the ball. A feature of the game was an improvement in Machen’s line speed, and this was typified by Toby who put in a good tackle on half way. Following another penalty to the home team, the referee gathered the Machen players together for a rule clarification.

Due to injuries, St. Mon went down to 14 men and so Machen had to do the same. Still carrying a knock, it was Tom who came off.

The home side got in at the corner to get the second half scoring under way and make it 15-31.

Following a scrum, Rob at No. 9 went on a sniping run and was wrapped up by his opposite number, but showed the strength and determination to stay on his feet long enough for Gethyn to come to his aid and take the ball. A penalty to the home team failed to find touch and Gethyn retrieved the ball and set off on one of a number of powerful rumbling runs. Ronnie carried on the move, and the ball was well stolen off him, but Toby was again up quickly to make the tackle and keep the opposition on the back foot.

James took a knock in midfield but was back on his feet in no time in typical no-nonsense fashion.

A scrum to Machen, and Josh put the ball in with Rob moving to flanker. The move worked perfectly as Josh picked up at the base of the scrum, where Machen had the upper hand throughout, and set off toward the try line for yet another score to make it 5 for the day. This time he didn’t make the conversion quite as straightforward, but Callum was up to the task anyway and slotted home from an angle. 15-38.

Ronnie gave way to allow Tom to return to the fray, and he was soon involved in the action. The ball was spun out to Tom in the centre. He dummied a pass to beat one man, then sidestepped another to put himself into open space. It was then a footrace to the line, which he comfortably won to score under the posts. Callum was again on hand to add the extra points. 15-45.

Another powerful run by Gethyn sparked an impressive period of recycling forward play which eventually ended with Connor – who is developing a habit of nicking tries - crossing for another 5 points. By now it was like shelling peas for Callum and the additional 2 points were added. 15-52.

The home side had a period of possession, but Gethyn stripped the ball in his own 22 before spinning a long pass to Ben which put the backs outside the defensive cover. Ben and James then combined with goods hands to put Tom away for another long distance finish, with George on his shoulder in case needed. The conversion this time fell just short from out wide. 15-57.

From the restart, Ieuan caught well and sidestepped the on-rushing defender but it was to be the last action of the game, the referee blowing up just before the reporter on duty ran out of ink at the end of an action-packed encounter.

So – a great performance from a depleted U14s against a team who, despite the circumstances in which they find themselves, are no pushovers and certainly never give in. With 5 minutes to go, and 42 points behind, there was a break in play. One of their coaches asked the players if they wanted to end the match there and then, or carry on – they replied ‘we’ll carry on’.
To pick a man of the match when everyone had contributed in equal measure was never going to be an easy task. So much was the team effort that it went to the whole team.
Summary of scorers:
Josh Hart 5 tries, Tom Gillespie 2 tries, Connor Morgan and Logan George 1 try each, Callum Pipe 6 conversion.
The Under 14s next game is scheduled for Friday 29th Sept. Venue TBC.

13's won 28-26 against Croesyceiliog's.
After taking a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes, the 13's then decided to let the opposition score 26 points without responding !!!
To keep it exiting they managed to score a try in the last minute which was converted by Leo to win the match 
Well done to man of the match Angus
And the 100% award went to Luke

After last week’s trip to Bedlinog, you could forgive the boys for thinking they were on a bit of a role. The trip to local rivals Bedwas soon put an end to that. 
It’s taken Bedwas almost 3yrs to beat us and it took fifteen boys to beat our ten this weekend by a score of 13-10.
The first half (or 14 minutes, whose counting) saw Machen struggle to find their feet against a well drilled Bedwas team who got off to a flyer with two quick tries. When the half time whistle was blown Bedwas were 5-2 up and Machen needed a special half-time pep talk to inject some belief into them.
The whistle blew for the second half and whatever was said by Chris and Al at halftime seemed to work. The boys came out fighting and after 10 minutes of the second half the score was a respectable 8-7 to Bedwas.
Now, this is where a mini rugby game would normally end for our under 9’s after two, ten minute halves, but it seems that Bedwas is the village that time forgot, as the clock just kept on ticking. Our boys put in a valiant effort but in the end found it difficult to hold on to a Bedwas side who could bring on five rested players every five minutes. We didn’t have that luxury and it was clear that Machen had left all they had, out on the pitch when the final whistle blew on 36 minutes meaning the boys had played 26 minutes of extra time in the second half alone! eventually being defeated by 13-10.
There needs to be a special mention for three players with some outstanding performances this week.
Harry for his outstanding work rate and commitment to every tackle. 
Cameron for keeping us competitive by scoring four of the ten tries.
And for Yianis, for getting stuck into the opposition with an excellent try saving tackle.
As I write this it looks like we have a home game this Sunday hopefully the boys will be able to build on what they have learnt from a tough game this weekend and return to winning ways.

And done  
Unti next week....................

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