News

A strong Celtic seconds bolstered by several first team squad members travelled to Nantymoel away. Unfortunately, and disappointingly for the Celtic pack Nantymoel chose to start the game with passive scrums. In terrible conditions underfoot Nantymoel caught the Celts napping early on when a well weighted chip through by the home 10 was dotted down in the corner to open the scoring. Rallying Celtic made some telling breaks with Rhys Fisher and Lee Sainsbury cutting some fine angles and outside half Shaun Raymond creating space on the front foot.

A break up the middle by returning Callum Bowen resulted in a penalty which stand-in full back Rhodri Thomas expertly guided into the corner for a Celtic lineout. Unable to stand the massive surge from the Celtic forward, the Nantymoel pack were sent backwards at a rate of knots, the extra 13&1/2 stone of winger Ben Poole made all the difference to the drive and he was able to wriggle over for the Celts first try, which was unconverted by Sean Raymond.

Now with some confidence in their play the Celts attacked with real vigour, Jay Whelan in particular making good ground with some excellent carries and Nathan Adams always on hand to keep the ball alive and the play moving, whilst Morgan Reeves was always ready to receive the ball and take on the opposition to gain the hard yards.

Next on the score sheet was Rhys Fisher who cut a dazzling angle through the home defence to score in the biggest puddle on the field. Try converted by Rhodri Thomas. The scoring in the first half was rounded off with a fine finish from Matthew Jones after excellent ball handling by backs and forwards and a fantastic dummy running line from Nathan Jenkins.

After a rousing half time team talk by Captain Keith Stone, the Celts started the second half with some real fire. A real peach of a backs move was finished off by Rhodri Thomas who slid into the corner to take the Celts further ahead. Credit where it is due, Nantymoel dug deep and continued to make life hard for the boys as they took a series of quick tap penalties and kept the Celts on the back foot, some brave defending and big collisions saw Rhys Fisher, Ben Poole and Lee Sainsbury leave the field in quick succession. With a re-jigged backline, the attacking cohesion suffered but some excellent box kicking by replacement scrum half Neil Sainsbury kept the Celts out of too much bother. With 2 minutes left to play, Nantymoel scored a consolation try to even up the score sheet a little.

All in all a good squad performance with some very pleasing aspects under some pretty poor conditions. Callum Bowen was chosen Man of the Match.