Fixture

Porthcawl 17 v 34 Maesteg Celtic

Maesteg Celtic travelled to Porthcawl on a showery cold afternoon and put on an impressive display of power rugby. Their front five were magnificent in the set pieces and loose play. The front row of Sean Lambert, Morgan Reeves and Simon Lent commanded the scrums while second rows Alex Jones and Peter Kehoe tackled and carried the ball fiercely at the home team. Celtic back row of young Tom Mines, Jonathan Davies, and veteran Ryan Turner were ferocious in defence and attack.

            The tactical experience of half backs  Liam Healy and Luke Richards allowed Celtic to dominate the areas of play. The Porthcawl three quarter line attempted to spread the ball wide at every opportunity but they rarely found a gap in the Celtic defensive line. Centres Sam Mines and Man of the Match Scott Sainsbury gave no ground while the back three of Aaron Williams, Neil Arthur and Kristian Jenkins counter attacked from any attempts to kick for territory.

Porthcawl camped in the Celtic half for the first ten minutes but only came away with a penalty. Celtic responded with two penalties of their own before the home team scored under the posts. Celtic took the ball into the home 22 and pounded the defence forcing them to concede a penalty try.

            The second half was dominated by Celtic and a penalty kicked to touch in the corner allowed the pack to drive over for a touchdown by flanker Jonathan Davies.  Celtic took play back into the home 22 and a period of power play allowed number eight Ryan Turner to drive through the defence for another touchdown. Porthcawl’s three quarters were rewarded for their resilience with a 50 metre score. Celtic ended the match when Kristian Jenkins made ground before passing to Sam Mines who fooled the defence and accelerated through a gap to sprint 20 metres to score.

Celtic man of the match was centre Scott Sainsbury who kicked 4 conversions, 3 penalties and tackled superbly.