The Blues South made the best possible start to this inter-regional contest.
The Blues South made the best possible start to this inter-regional contest.
After securing the kick off they drove deep into the North twenty-two and when a penalty opportunity was kicked to touch the resulting maul was driven over with Harry Roberts at the bottom of the pile to claim the score.
The early stages were all South but they failed to capitalise on the early pressure and it was the North who got themselves on the scoreboard with a well-judged long range penalty by Jarrod Evans. As the wind continued to swirl around the Park at Abercynon it was the North that coped better the conditions and slowly established themselves in the game.
A series of penalties saw them work their way into the South half only for a dropped pass to halt the advance. They did though take the lead when Evans slotted his second penalty of the night. The South did have their moments a high up and under was reclaimed and winger Ellis Wyn Benham was set on his way, only a desperate cover tackle stopped him from scoring.
The pressure from the South was to prove to be too much two minutes later. A series of raids into the North half resulted in a charge down that Matthew Marley gratefully received and ran in from tem metres, Callum Sheedy converted.
Just before half time Evans had a chance to reduce the deficit but the ball drifted wide to leave the South 12-6 up at the break.
The second half started with the rain driving down the ground. The South had an early opportunity from a five metre lineout but the ball went astray and the North were able to clear.
The first quarter of the second half was littered with mistakes and the constant blow of a whistle, neither side being able to control the ball for long enough to get any fluency going.
The South did extend their lead with a Sheedy penalty before the game sprung to life and woke the crowd up. The North got to within two points when a period of sustained pressure resulted in a score under the posts for impressive No. 8 Hemi Barnes. Evans converted but virtually straight from the kick–off the South restored the advantage as Ellis Wyn Benham outpaced the defence to score in the corner, Sheedy landed the difficult conversion. It was now all about the bonus point for the South, but as hard as they tried they were unable to grab the fourth try.
Speaking after the game Blues South Head Coach Richard Hodges said ‘three tries and a win. I thought defensively we were outstanding and we controlled the elements well, Callum Sheedy had a very good game in that respect. But that’s three wins out of three and although we still have things to work on we are happy with that return’