Doesn’t it feel good….

….to beat Tonyrefail in their own back yard. There was a lot of talk last week about Ton’s poor start to the season and how Gilfach had won their last 4 and this would be an easy game. The first half proved how such thinking is best avoided when your talking about this local derby, the form book is thrown clean out the window.

As much as it gripes me to give them beer sales I thought a pint before the game would go down a treat. I was saved from the torture of adding my hard earned shekels to the Ton coffers by the fact that they closed the bar before the game! So it was make our way down to the field and wait for the match or take a stroll up to The Red Gate..... Red Gate it was then.

Arriving at the field some ten minutes after what was supposed to be the start of the match I was surprised to see that Gil hadn’t yet taken the field. Slight cock-up on the transport front I was reliably informed. Nice to see things haven’t changed that much.

Ton controlled the first half and were probably deserving of their half time lead, Dai Griff controlled the game with some experience kicking and our set piece struggled to get going. Poor line outs and sub-standard scrummaging was the order of the day. The half time break brought a turnaround in play. While the line out improved slightly the scrum was a much improved beast and Ton regularly found themselves retreating at a rate of knots. Some good running behind the scrum help move the pack down field and ensured that we achieved the desired result and left the field victorious 28-10. Although the backs played well in the second half, I have my reservations about team selection. Injury and player availability no doubt dictate to a great extent the team and with the limited resources available the coaches probably have little selection decisions to make, but I would like to see a player with a good boot at 10 which would allow Adam Priday to use his strong running and tackling out wide.

It was good to see the bulk of the supporters were made up by Gilfach people and the while there was plenty of good humoured banter there was little or no nastiness. The dilemma I faced before the game about putting money over their bar disappeared as I eagerly rushed back to their club house to take up the bragging rites for the next couple of months.

The day was rounded of perfectly with the past & present players evening. It was so good to see so many old players back in the clubhouse. Let’s hope the enjoyed it so much that they don’t leave it so long before their next visit.

Llantwit Fadre next week on the Welfare Park should be a Ding Dong of a game, so let’s see you all there supporting the team and hopefully celebrating afterwards in the clwb.