Fixture

Whilst easter eggs were being sought after in many households in the UK it was an egg chasing of a different kind entertaining the locals at the Recreation Ground on Sunday. Given the temptation o stay at home gorging on chocolate it was fantastic to see a healthy crowd in attendance that were boosted by the outstanding travelling support from Birr RFC. The visitors hailing from County Offaly, Ireland had played Caerphilly the previous day but that didn’t stop them putting in a no holds barred effort 24 hours later against the Llantwit team. Late night tour shenanigans seemed to still be playing its part as the hosts raced into a 5-0 lead thanks to a familiar burst from back row Tyler Lee. This early score seemed to rouse the tourists and they soon started to impose their themselves on the game. Utilising some powerful forward runs and slick handing the Birr team started to dominate possession and found themselves leading 19-7. Looking to extend the lead Birr got caught out as Keenan Faulkner predicted the ball being spread wide and stretched to intercept a pass and race away for a score. As we neared half time Llantwit again had to rely on the powerful running of Lee as he spotted a gap in the Birr defence and run through to score his second and bring the half to a close at 19-17 to the visitors.

Now playing with the wind behind them Birr went on the offensive and pressurised the hosts at every opportunity. Putting the phases together Birr stretched the Llantwit defence to create openings out wide which they duly exploited to take their lead to 24-17. Another soon followed as Llantwit were guilty of napping in defence and the Birr players didn’t need a second invitation to score under the posts. At 31-17 it looked like a lost cause for the home team but whilst Tyler Lee is on the pitch then there is always hope that he will produce a score. That he did from a scrum in his own half as he picked up and raced away to close the deficit to 9 points. Lee was at again not long later with another barnstorming run down the pitch and all of sudden the scores were close at 31-29. Llantwit seemed to grow into the game and Efan Mitchell who had been working hard all game soon exploited space to side of a scrum and scored in the corner to put the home side in the lead. Birr wasn’t finished though and they soon responded with a score of their own and with both sides now looking tired it was anyone’s guess where the game was going to go. Needless to say it was that man Lee who finished the scoring when in the final 2 minutes Llantwit went over for another try to take a 39-36 lead. As hard as Birr tried, they couldn’t break free of the Llantwit defence and the 2 games in 2 days seemed to takes it toll as the visitors finally ran out of energy. An incredible display by Birr given that they had already played a tough game against Caerphilly the day before.

An excellent game to watch and the Birr touring team certainly did their club proud with incredible sportsmanship. A big hand to their U13 captain who did a remarkable job with the speeches afterwards and has certainly laid down the gauntlet for future Llantwit players to follow in future tours.