Fixture

A bright and sunny September morning saw the Under 9’s travel to Pontyclun. Having Played the badgers the week previous the team knew they were in for a tough time. A great turn out saw Blood and Blacks able to field two strong line ups for the games, and they didn’t disappoint. The first match saw Llantwit race off to an early lead crossing for a really well worked set play off the back of a scrum, a delayed pass from “BIG DAF” opened the space to see Sonny dance through and cross for the opener. Pontyclun came back strongly with 2 well worked tries of their own but stout resistance from the Blood and blacks defence including big tackles from Jack, Ollie, Pheobe and Sonny saw them stop wave after wave of badgers assault. Not long after it was Llantwit again on the attack with Gabriel dragging in the badgers defenders and offloading a great pass to Riley who finished off well.

Llantwit ran in another 3 before the half some great hands from Ollie with Ross, Max and Sonny all scoring to give them a good cushion, but on the stroke of half time a breakaway badgers try made it a bit closer. 5-3 HT

At half time Llantwit rang the changes and the only player to remain from the first have was the colossal Ross who had been making and breaking tackles all of the 1st half. More of the same continued after half time with the Badgers making more than a game of this. It took a big break from Austin to get the blood and blacks moving, quickly recycling the ball, a quick pass from Charlie and Ross crashing through to score. Great play from the whole team for their second try with it worked from Evie to Joseph who in turn set Finn on his way to score in the corner. Badgers had a consolation but blood and blacks proved too strong in the end with Harrison making a break for it before recycling the ball for Blake to go busting through for a well earned score. Another score from the resilient badgers kept things interesting but the final word came from the blood and blacks. Great play from Blake saw him whip a pass wide (quaid cooper style) for Finn to grab a second in the corner………………………………… 8-5 FT

Next game was more of the same, another strong start for the home team racing off to a lead this time from some great speed in attack. Just as they thought they had the blood and blacks on the rack…. Up steps max! 3 tries and denied a 4th by some suspect line work on the Pontyclun side put Llantwit in a commanding position. Blood and blacks were now flinging the ball around for fun with Dafydd controlling the base of the solid scrum set by the forwards Pheobe, Gabriel, Ollie Max and Austin, offloads and solid carrying by Ryan saw LMRFC dominate but not quite get over The line again and in a flash Pontyclun grabbed a second. HT 3-2

The second half saw the changes again and again this proved to be our secret weapon, whilst their pace was still an issue our resolute defence kept them at bay. A turn over in our own corner gave Aled the space he wanted all game and off he went with his dancing feet up the line. A pass inside to jack and a switch across the pitch saw Joseph light the after burners to run the whole length of the pitch and score in the opposite corner. Terrific end to end rugby from the blood and blacks. That instigated the fight back from Pontyclun and while Blake was out of the game tying his lace the badgers pounced. They scored three quick tries to take the lead. This saw again a fight back from blood and blacks and some strong running from Ross and Evie got us up the pitch. Some quick passing from both Charlie and Sonny at half back saw us score again in both corners from Finn. Great driving and solid play from Blake drove us up the pitch and Ross burst through to score with only minutes to go.Two tries to the good and we were pushing again and Blake dived for the corner only to be one foot short. A floated pass from Charlie was headed for the hands of Joseph for another walk in but was grabbed from the air by the Pontyclun defender who ran the length of the field to score the final try. Not quite enough for the badgers and Blood and blacks take the win. FT 8-7

Thanks to all the kids and parents for the great turnout and fabulous support. Also a big thanks to Pontyclun for being such great hosts.