Dinas Powys RFC Under-14s 46 - Llandaff North 5

DINAS Powys RFC Under-14s recently hosted Llandaff North on a very cold Sunday morning.

Both teams had to cope with injuries and absences, which meant reshuffling players into different positions.

Even with these changes the game turned out to be a competitive and feisty affair.

As the game started Matt H took a knock to his hand and had to withdraw with an injury which was the second since the season started, the first was a broken finger but he shows his grit and determination and comes back every time. This meant a further reshuffle by the Dinas coaches.

Llandaff kicked off the game and pressured Dinas in their own half.

Showing solid defence Dinas recycled the ball and worked themselves up the field for the first try by Callum Williams.

Connor Maguire, then collected the Llandaff kick, running skilfully through some of the Llandaff forwards to set-up a try for Joe Vesey. This was one of three tries and three conversions for Vesey, who is also the captain and was playing out of position at outside half rather than flanker.

Mitch Boyland then set-up a lovely back line move for a third Dinas try by James Chapman, after some deft footwork by Matthew O’Callaghan.

O’Callaghan and Chapman were solid in defence throughout the game, as was Aiden Xuereb.

Just when Dinas might have thought they were going to pull away, Llandaff struck back with a well worked try of their own. Llandaff then exerted more pressure on the Dinas defence.

The Dinas forwards then began getting some ascendency with Morgan Saunders making some barn-storming runs, along with AJ Jones, Joe Lewis and Emyr Union and being more abrasive in contact when Llandaff had the ball.

Dinas then scored their fourth try from just outside their 22 when Curtis Finch went through from the back of a scrum after some good communication with Boyland and Vesey.

This was quickly followed by another try after a pop pass off the floor by the forwards who worked hard all game to secure their own ball. Vesey took advantage of this quick ball and put Jack Morgan away in the corner.

A few minutes into the second half and Morgan Saunders went over the line, but was judged to have been held up by the referee.

Llandaff then kicked to clear their lines and some deft stealing by Mogs Lloyd-Williams, who also worked hard in the contact area throughout the match fed Vesey who arced round and through the Llandaff defence for his second try, which was then quickly followed by his third.

Finch then finished the scoring with his second try.

Whilst the disparity in the 46 – 5 score line seemed wide, this did not give a fair view of a competitive and hard-fought match between the two sides.

Any players wishing to train and be part of the team please get contact details from the Dinas Powys RFC website.