Another literary masterpiece from Gareth Nicholas.
An outstanding win for Llanharan against a Tondu side that are two divisions above and are holding their own in that division. Tondu accepted the fixture at very short notice and both sides had little preparation time, due to the match only being put on the day before.
The opening 10 minutes were brutal, with both sides taking the direct route., and excellent defensive sets being demonstrated by both sides.
After the first 10 minutes the momentum began to swing towards the dairy men with only the awkward position of the ref preventing him from seeing a try. There were 2 or three other chances that went begging for both teams before on the half hour Tondu broke the deadlock with a try under the posts after a rare defensive mistake in midfield. The momentum remained with Tondu and they kicked a penalty after Scott Jones was penalized by the referee doing a maneuver very similar to Joe Marler with AWJ but Scott was more gentle.
The second half brought more of the same attritional defence. However, as the teams began to tire, so the gaps appeared, with both sides making clean line breaks, only to be thwarted meters from the try line.
Then came the shift in momentum, as Chris Osborne powered his way over from short distance, making full use of his increased weight and sweaty body. Fabio Jones added the extra 2 points, before turning to his female entourage, to flex.
The game ebbed and flowed with the telling difference being the suffocating defence of Llanharan. The away side’s second try and the one that allowed them to take the lead for the first time was started by a cunning line out move, which saw Brandon Nelson collect the ball and gallop majestically for 3 meters before delivering a perfect pass to Sam Llewellyn, who intern injected pace into the move for 6inches, then offloading to Rhys “the Stork” Dauncey, who rampaged down the touchline The final pass saw the ball in the hands of the outstanding Ieuan Pring, who sprinted under the posts. The extra points were added by the doctor of love, Scott Jones, to leave the score at 14 – 10 to the dairy men, with 10 minutes to go. The final 10 minutes was a very tense affair with Tondu throwing everything at Llanaran, but the stonewall defence held firm, eventually causing a mistake by Tondu which was swept on by Llanharan to go three quarters of the field, leading to a second try for Ieuan Pring.
Special mention must go to Lloyd Gimli Gregory, who, week after week puts in man of the match performances, through his physicality in the tackle and his speed over the ball to ensure turnover ball
Assistant Coach Andy Price, celebrating the third anniversary of his vasectomy, was quick to point out the tenacious attitude shown by the forwards, which paved the way for a hard fought win
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