WRU National League Division Three East B - Chepstow RFC 15 Hafodyrynys RFC 15

CHEPSTOW RFC’s team manager Dean Thomas admitted he faces selection problems after a much-changed side shared the points with Hafodyrynys at the weekend.

“This was a game we would have lost last season, with so many changes to the starting line-up,” he said.

“The players that came in did an amazing job and selection is going to be tough for our next game.”

Four of the previous week’s starting backs were unavailable, but this didn’t seem to affect the home team too much.

They scored the first try early on through centre Neil Evans with the extras added by Brad Bamford.

But after 20 minutes of dominance, Chepstow seemed to let their foot off the gas and some poor kicks were capitalised on by the away side to score two unconverted tries.

Chepstow also conceded a penalty which was converted to leave them 15-7 down at the break.

Some stern words were spoken by head coach Phil Smith at half-time, words which seemed to galvanise the team and after a prolonged period of pressure, Bamford slotted a penalty to bring Chepstow within five points of the opposition.

They continued to bombard the Hafodyrynys line for the remainder of the game, resulting in a try for Andrew Morris in the corner to bring the scores level.

But the conversion attempt was narrowly missed and the game finished all square, leaving Chepstow fifth in National League Division Three East B.

Chepstow are without a match this Saturday but are due to travel to Crickhowell in the Second Round of the WRU National Bowl on Saturday 6th October.

Bob Cypher