Fixture

Going into the game, high flying T's were above Girling's in the league for the first time in memory. They ended one place below. Throughout this madcap game, an inevitability this was not!!

The T's, much changed from the previous week's victory over Tref-y-Clawdd went in with an almost new backline and two changes in the pack. You wouldn't know from the way they begun. A dominant forward display, especially in the scrum, saw massive pressure on the home side. They defended manfully, their full back epitomising their attitude with a crazy, head-first tackle which saw him leave the field with a nasty head injury. Eventually they gave way when the T's scrum shoved the Girling pack backwards forcing their ball to spill out to allow openside and captain Matthew Baskerville to pounce and score. Makeshift 10 Matthew Gallent rather misjudged the conversion.

Girling were not about to lie down. They used a clever kicking game to release pressure and gain territory. One in particular forcing full back Morgan Griffiths to carry over his line. The dominant T's scrum repelled their attack. However, not for long. T's put themselves back under pressure with an off the top lineout going awry, a spilt ball at the back of a defensive scrum and a 5 metre penalty concession. Eventually, Girling were able to force their way over. 

The T's struck back hard with makeshift centre busting his way through to score under the posts. Girling struck back soon after from more T's mistakes and the pattern was set for a see saw game. The change in ends not halting this. 

After the break, a tapped penalty was carried hard into the Girling defence with a smart offload allowing Dan Went to sneak over. From here though, Girling threatened to run away with it. Their 4th and 5th tries were particularly well worked down the short side. 

Previous T's sides would have capitulated at this point. This vintage is made of sterner stuff though. In a carbon copy of the 3rd try, Paul Chivers was worked over in the corner for a bonus point. Soon later the deficit was reduced to two points when a good move down the middle created a massive overlap on the left. The ball was worked wide to Dan Went who crashed through the last defender to score despite three men waiting for the scoring pass. A missed conversion saw the T's trail by two points with a minute to go. 

The final restart was taken and driven forward but a knock on saw the end to a thrilling game. Two points gained but a win for the taking lost. More composure when dominant will see this side win far more than they lose this season.