7 Try Swansea Make Light Work Of Local Rivals!
Match Report by Paul Tabram.
Swansea made a great start to the season in a passionate local derby pre-season friendly at The Gnoll on Thursday night.
It was a perfect night for running rugby and Swansea took full advantage direct from the kick-off. No sooner had international referee Ben Whitehouse blew the whistle, that The Welsh All-Blacks were back behind the posts after 45 seconds as Swansea showed their intent immediately. A good take by Sam Pailor who broke the gain-line gave Aron Hemmings a perfect platform to set his backs moving down the blind-side and eventually Tom Edwards was released who beat a couple of defenders to score a stunning try, converted by Josh Phillips to give an early seven-point lead. Straight from the re-start the forwards set up another great platform for Phillips to carve through and a second try in as many minutes looked certain but referee Whitehouse stopped play as a scuffle ensued off the ball resulting in a penalty to The All Whites. Shortly after the impressive Pailor got over the gain–line again but a loose pass stopped another try-scoring opportunity. Then neat inter-play between forwards and backs sent Edwards over for his second try of the evening, once again converted by Phillips. Opposite wing Callum Dodd was not to be outdone as he added to Neath’s woes with the third try inside the first 10 minutes. After the Swansea forwards broke the gain line, the backs sent the ball along the line impressively for the right wing to touch down which was again converted by Phillips. Neath’s first concerted period of pressure resulted in a series of penalties which saw tempers flare once again. Referee Whitehouse called both captain’s over and issued a warning to both sides. Neath’s former Swansea outside-half Steff Williams found touch 10 metres out but a knock-on quelled the pressure momentarily. Aggressive defending by both forwards and backs kept Neath outand after a penalty for holding on Swansea soon cleared their lines and moved up–field due to a series of offside offences by the home team. A line out catch and drive from the visitors then gave Llew Phillips-Taylor an armchair ride towards the line to notch Swansea’s 4th try which went unconverted on 22 minutes. Whitehouse was determined to keep his cards in his pocket when a 3rd scuffle broke out and Swansea capitalised on the penalty by kicking again to touch. A great break by Phillips who orchestrated things at stand-off produced an inside ball to Hemmings who unfortunately couldn’t hang on for his side’s 5th try with the line at his mercy. When yet another bout of handbags broke out, referee Whitehouse had seen enough and promptly sent Neath No. 8 Sam Gardiner to the side-lines to cool off for ten minutes.Swansea were denied a try due to obstruction at a catch and drive for Phillips-Taylor’s 2nd try, but shortly after the visitors were not to be denied when captain Callum Bowden received a tap down from the line out to peel around the Neath pack and score Swansea’s 5th with a minute left on the clock before the interval. Neath then won the ball at the re-start but again some dogged play by The Whites forwards presented Callum Carson with a brilliant 50-22 kick. Swansea’s line out, which was impressive throughout the match then produced another catch and drive try with loose-head prop Daf Davies being the grateful recipient two minutes into added on time. Phillips this time made light work of the tricky conversion before Ben Whitehouse blew up for half-time.
Half-Time – Neath 0-38 Swansea
The half-time team talk seemed to galvanise the hosts when prop Mason Morgan went on a barnstorming run straight from the restart as Neath were determined to start the second period in a more positive fashion. A penalty against the visitors for offside gave The Gnoll side the first chance of the half but an overthrown line-out handed back Swansea the ball who went through the back-line from one end of the pitch to the other only for a chip ahead when ball-in-hand may have produced a better result. A mis-demeaner in touch-in-goal gave Neath some breathing space. Although it wasn’t long before they were back behind the posts. Yet another overthrown Neath line out handed the ball back to Swansea and after some good interplay between forwards and backs gave Harrison Doe a debut try. Harri Williams converted. With half-an-hour to go, a 45-point lead and with some worried home supporters in the stands, it seemed that the floodgates would open. However, Neath are never a team to lay dawn and give in and the final half-an-hour belonged to the home side. Numerous replacements from both sides made the last ten minutes a scrappy, frenetic affair. Loose Swansea kicking and some great support work gave Fergus Kneath a try for the home side with 10 minutes to go. Then with 4 minutes left on the clock an All-Black breakout and chip ahead looked to be dealt with by Swansea but Josh Clark followed up to get the touchdown and in injury time, former powerful Swansea wing Matthew Jenkins was not to be denied when the visitors again kicked aimlessly. All three tries went unconverted.
Final Score – Neath 15-45 Swansea
Swansea next play Ospreys at Swansea.com stadium on 31stAugust, whilst Neath host Talywain at The Gnoll the night before.
Shortly after the final whistle, Swansea Head Coach, Hugh Gustafson commented on his sides performance; “We played well in the first half and were clinical with the chances that were created. We stuck to our game plan with our aggressive attacking and defensive policies. We saw a lot of players play tonight with several exciting new combinations. We were a little bit disappointed to concede 15 points near the end due to our errors from over-playing, but on the whole, we are very satisfied with a win”.
Swansea
15Brandon Wood
14Callum Dodd
13Harrison Doe
12Callum Carson
11Tom Edwards
10Josh Phillips
9Aron Hemmings
1Daf Davies
2Llew Phillips-Taylor
3Chris Davies
4Chris Thompson
5Sam Pailor
6Geraint Powell
7Callum Bowden ©
8Joe Greaves
Replacements (All Used)
16Jamie Cox
17Freddie Chapman
18Kian Hire
19Ellis Fackrell
20Seb Davies
21Iwan Tremblett
22Harri Williams
23Luke Davies
24Willis Wood
25Gareth O Rees
Neath
15Steff Williams
14Matthew Jenkins
13Nathan Orrells
12Sean Wilcox
11Ryan Griffiths
10James Dixon
9Brychan Wood
1Mason Morgan
2Kian Jones
3Tarik Dabeh
4Matthew Davies
5Dan Watkins
6Ben Williams (Capt.)
7Casey Williams
8Sam Gardiner
Replacements
Josh Clark
Elis Hopkins
Ollie Rice
Fergus Kneath
Kaden Davies
George Richards
Ki Morgan
Llewellyn Hawkes
Josh Jones
Jacob Blackmore
Referee:Ben Whitehouse (Gowerton).
Assistants:Jason Griffiths (Port Talbot) & Gareth Jablonski (Aberdare).
Venue:The Lextan Gnoll, Neath.
Player of the MatchJosh Phillips (Swansea)
Neath:
Tries:Fergus Kneath (70), Josh Clark (76), Matthew Jenkins (79)
Yellow Card:Sam Gardiner (35)
Swansea:
Tries: Tom Edwards (1,7), Callum Dodd (10), Llew Phillips-Taylor (22), Callum Bowden (40) Daf Davies 40+2) Harrison Doe (49)
Conv: Josh Phillips (2,8,11, 40+3) Harri Williams (50)