Gwent Youth 7 – Caerphilly Youth 12
Gwent and Caerphilly produced an exciting advert for district rugby at Caldicot last night with Caerphilly district youth piping their hosts to a hard fought 12-7 victory.
It was Caerphilly who took the ascendancy, and after poor ball retention by Gwent from the opening kick-off, full back Joe Evans went over untouched after some neat work down the blindside. The try was duly converted by Caerphilly stand off, Kieron Dymond.
As the half wore on, Gwent’s nerves settled, and after some good turnover ball from outstanding open-side Kyle Price, they finally found themselves in good field position to set their backs moving, with centre, Jordan hillier and impressive winger Sam Wilkins looking sharp, but narrowly coming up short.
After some needless penalties at the end of the first half by Gwent, Caerphilly failed to take advantage with a long distance attempt at goal, ending the first half with a seven point advantage.
The second half began like the first, with Gwent gifting their opponents with field position. Holding out at first, the score finally came as full back Joe Evans took advantage of a dog leg defence, and after some dangerous running from the impressive Duane Dyer, it was replacement winger Malik Akilou who went over in the corner. A failed conversion made it 12-0 to the visitors. Like the first half, it was once the opposition took the points that Gwent began to play, and after some decent phase building and good work from locks Liam Jefford and Luke Simms, they again found themselves on the right part of the field to play some ball. Breaks by scrum half Sean Courtney and stand off Mike Baker almost came to scores, and after good ball retention from Gwidion Lloyd and Aaron Price, would have resulted in a try for stand off Baker, but for the intervention of referee, Huw Evans.
The Gwent score finally came, and after good work at the lineout, with the Gwent forwards starting to get their steam up, a try came for impressive replacement prop, Thomas Harris. With the score converted by centre and Captain Jordan Hillier, the Gwent players found themselves one score behind with the momentum on their side.
Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t get into the right parts of the field, and Caerphilly held out for a hard fought victory. It was an impressive display form both sides, who have unfortunately not had enough rugby under their belts this season. It will be another interesting contest when the sides meet at Caerphilly in a Months time.
Gwent Youth 7 points
(Try: Thomas Harris; Conv: Jordan Hillier)
Caerphilly Youth 12 points
(Tries: Joe Evans, Malik Akilou; Conv: Kieron Dymond)
Gwent: 15. Clayton Gullis (Garndiffaith), 14. Sam Wilkins (NHSOB), 13. Jordan Hillier (Pontypool UTD- captain), 12. Lloyd Mellens (Caldicot), 11. Matt Jones (Caldicot) 10. Mike Baker (Garndiffaith) 9. Sean Courtney (Garndiffaith); 1. Lance Chappell (Caldicot), 2. Scott Baker (NHSOB), 3. Gwylim Davies (New Panteg), 4. Liam Jefford (Garndiffaith), 5. Luke Sims (NHSOB), 6. Aaron Price (Abergavenny), 7. Kyle Price (Abergavenny), 8. Gwidion Lloyd (Cwmbran); 16. Thomas Harris (St. Josephs), 17. Ashley Kempson (NHSOB), 18. Ashley Reeves (St. Josephs) 19. Rhys Thomas (NHSOB) 20. Sion Lewis (Caldicot) 21. Josh Charles (Abergavenny)
Caerphilly: Adam Jones, Ben Cullen, Cordell Wilson, Duane Dyer, Dalton Grant, Joe evans, Joe Coughlin, Malik Akilou, Kieron Dymond, Andrew Dix, Arran Elliot, Chris Mapps, Dale Rogers, Danny James, Elliot Shotton, Greg Baker, Lewis Bevan, Luke Roberts, Mike Chambers, Seb Toms
