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19 February 2019 / Club News

Vardre end Swansea Uplands' winning streak

Vardre took home the spoils after a scrappy but competitive clash at Fairwood Lane.

The team from the foot of the Swansea Valley started the brighter of the two, with a long spell of possession putting the Uplands defence under pressure. Vardre were clearly the bigger of the two sides with a big couple of centres and a bigger pack, but the home defence was holding firm, with some big hits from Ryan Goff, Sam Winrow and Tom Turner galvanising the defence. The men in green looked comfortable in defence, but they just couldn’t get their hands on the ball, and it was the Vardre attack which took advantage, with a well worked move down the left causing problems. Eventually, the space was created for Vardre’s big backline to crash over for the 5 points.  

The conversion was missed, and the score seemed to galvanise the home side, with the men in green enjoying some ball for the first time in the game. Some nice carries from hooker Mikey Evans in particular were causing problems, his dancing feet creating many half-breaks that his team mates couldn’t quite capitalise on. Daniel Stephens, Richard Evans and Tom Osborne were also causing the away side problems, but it was when Vardre’s defence was stretched that disaster struck.
As the ball was worked wide some inaccurate passing led to a loose ball which was picked up by Vardre’s winger, he raced home despite the close attention of James Edmunds, Henry Mirams and Luke Jenkins who were closing fast. 

The conversion was slotted and all of a sudden Uplands were 0-12 down after 25 minutes. Some stern words under the post seemed to buck up the home side, who just needed get the ball in their hands. A period of pressure saw the young side go very close, with both Greg Handley and Luke Jenkins stopped excruciatingly closet the whitewash. But it was when Vardre had a defensive scrum on their 5m line that the diminutive Uplands pack made their power tell. An almighty shove from the eight men in green pushed the opposition pack off the ball, and number eight Sam Winrow showed good awareness to pick up and place the ball down over the try line. 

The home side were looking strong now, dominating possession and looking to capitalise on that before half time. But despite the pressure the Vardre defence was also strong and the sides went in at the break 5 - 12.

The second half was a scrappy but entertaining affair. A number of handling errors from both sides were slowing the game down, but when both sides had the ball they were looking to move it wide. The home side were on top now, and a lovely flowing move off the back of good build up play by the forwards led to a great try down the left hand side. Some good hands from the pacey back line saw Luke Jenkins beat his man and find a lovely pass inside for Gareth Andrews to run in unopposed under the posts.


With the game at 12-12 both sides still pushed on for the win. The game was turning increasingly scrappy, and a series of injuries to the Uplands pack saw the momentum shift to the away side with the Green eight’s scrum under pressure for the first time. A high tackle led to a penalty to Vardre which was calmly slotted by the impressive Vardre fly-half to give them the edge. And it seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Uplands, who lost some zip in attack. As the game came to a close the Uplands continued to press, but it was Vardre who broke away, and set up camp in the home side’s 22. What followed deserved to win the game, with a nice flowing move seeing the ball move through tired hands to the away side winger who dotted down under pressure in the corner. A well finished off move at the end of the game.

With 2 minutes left on the clock the home side now went chasing a losing bonus points. With 3 attacking mauls pulled down illegally in the red zone the Uplands were clearly on top, but no yellow card was awarded. The men in green then launched one final attack and looked to have created an overlap, but unfortunately a speculative kick was attempted which led to the ball being kicked out of play and the game over. Vardre returned home with the 4 points - finally bringing to an end the Uplands’ winning run after their terrible start to the season.  Pictured is the ND John Man of the Match Ryan Goff receiving his bottle of fizz from senior team manager Ashley Jenkins

Up next for the firsts are Neath Athletic away on the 2nd March.

Many thanks to Rhys Williams for the above match report

 

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