Cwmbran 32 –

19 Caldicot

AGAINST all the odds, home side Cwmbran battled to a five try to three bonus point win over promotion rivals Caldicot on Saturday.

Caldicot's main weapon throughout was their driving line-out, which they executed well.

In the first quarter of play the visitors scored a brace of tries, one of which was converted. Their first try coming from a line-out drive and the second from a driven maul after sustained pressure.

Playing up the slope, into the sun and against the wind, Cwmbran gradually upped their tempo and powered upfield. Cwmbran's inside half then gave a quick release from a five metre scrum to put their centre over for an unconverted try.

A big feature of the first half was Cwmbran's buccaneering style of play, trying to run out of defence whatever the circumstances.

It paid off when a succession of forward drives led to Cwmbran charging over for a try. The full back converted to tie the scores at 12-12 at the interval.

Fortune favours the brave and Cwmbran benefited from a bit of luck early on in the second half. The home side's long kick off went dead to come back for a scrum.

From that scrum, Cwmbran's number-8 broke free and galloped down the hill like a runaway truck, offloading the ball at the perfect moment to Cwmbran's inside half to score a converted try. Cwmbran soon added to the conversion when they kicked a penalty to give them an eight point cushion.

They certainly needed that, as the penalty count mounted and both of their second rows found themselves in the sin bin within seconds of each other.

Caldicot's tails were now up and a converted try closed the gap to a point with 15 minutes left. Magnificent defence by Cwmbran however, ensured every attacking ploy was foiled. What looked liked a certain Caldicot try was halted by a tremendous tackle by Cwmbran, before they rallied themselves.

Cwmbran continually probed and tried to unlock the visiting defence and, after gaining a foothold in Caldicot's 22, Cwmbran's replacement hooker scored a try.

With play now at both ends, the game could have gone either way until Cwmbran cemented the bonus point win when their inside half scored his second try, with the full back

converting.