There was heartbreak for Swansea at St Helens on Saturday as a late RGC comeback saw RGC nick a 25-24 victory
The opening facets of the game were dominated by the North Walians as Swansea struggled to clear their lines. A Swansea infringement gave RGC the first points of the game when Billy McBryde slotted a penalty to take RGC into the lead.
Swansea hit back half way through the first half with the first try of the game. Fly Half James Davies made a break before offloading to centre Tom Williams who gathered the ball well and ran in unopposed. The conversion was slotted by Davies and Swansea went 7-3 ahead.
On the stroke of Half Time, RGC got their first try of the match. A driving maul destined for the try line was adjudged to have been illegally brought down by Swansea hooker Owen Thomas which resulted in a Penalty try and a yellow card for Thomas. RGC went into the half time break 10-7 ahead.
Swansea made a fast start to the second half and a driving maul saw flanker Callum Bowden crash over for the Whites’ second try of the game. The conversion was missed by Davies, and Swansea remained 12-10 ahead.
RGC hit back quickly and re-took the lead through a Billy McBryde penalty from distance, taking the visitors 13-12 ahead.
Swansea began to hit their stride as the second half progressed and got their third try of the game through a try of the season contender from hooker Owen Thomas. Thomas picked the ball up 45m out before making a break, leaving RGC defenders in his wake, managing to sneak in at the corner. The conversion was a success and took Swansea 19-13 ahead.
It looked as it Swansea had the game wrapped up when Ben Cambriani pounced on a charge down from Tom Williams and dotted down for Swansea’s fourth try, securing the bonus point and taking the scores to 24-13 in favour of Swansea.
However, with less than 10 minutes left, RGC got themselves back into the game. A break from deep inside of their own half saw captain Tom Hughes finish off in the corner. A tough conversion was slotted with ease from McBryde and took the visitors to just 4 points behind.
The pressure on Swansea was starting to show and an uncharacteristic mistake from replacement Josh Thomas gifted RGC possession in a dangerous area. A resulting penalty took RGC into Swansea’s 22 and pressure at scrum time gave replacement scrum half Oscar Lennon the chance to make a break and dive over to steal the win. The conversion was missed but RGC came out as victors 25-24.
Swansea travel to high flying Llandovery next Saturday while RGC who moved up to 7th travel to strugglers Ebbw Vale.
AWC SPORT 