WRU League Division 1
Riverside Park, Rumney
Saturday 12th January 2002, K.O. 2.30 pm

Previous result

02.10.01 Bedwas 17 Rumney 10

Rumney : 15.C.Wills 14.S.McIntyre 13.D.Willey 12.S.McIntosh 11.M.Cawley 10.G.Cleaver 9.G.Welsh 1.D.Smith 2.P.Harris 3.N.Hennessy  4.M.Peard (Capt.)  5.P.Langley 6.G.Lucas 7.W.O'Connor 8.A.Grabham
Replacements : 16.I.McIntyre 17.L.Ngungutau 18.N.Stork 19.M.Carey 20.G.Harrington 21.P.Masoe 22.C.O'Donoghue

Rumney 20   Bedwas 33

Scorers for Rumney : David Willey try, Pauli Masoe try, Gareth Cleaver 2 penalties and 2 conversions

Bedwas took the honours and achieved a double over Rumney in this exciting encounter at Riverside Park, with full back Paul Phillips collecting eighteen points for his side. It was Phillips who opened the scoring when he crossed for a try before the game was thirty seconds old but Rumney quickly replied with a try by centre David Willey as a result of clever linking between Pauli Masoe and Willey. Shortly afterwards lock Paul Langley gained good lineout possession and set up a powerful forward drive which saw impressive No8 Masoe diving over for a try of his own and with outside half Gareth Cleaver kicking two penalties, the home side seemed to be building a substantial lead. The second half saw the Bedwas pack asserting themselves and gaps appeared in the Rumney defences leading to tries for winger Mathew Pizey and full back Phillips. The Bedwas comeback was completed late in the game with forwards Anthony Evans and Deri Mattravers crossing to increase the winning margin.

Shaun Lee, Coach Rumney RFC 1st XV : "Another game which we dominated but did not turn pressure into points. We did play some very good rugby and deserved to be winning at half time. We lost lock Mike Peard and number eight Andrew Grabham through injury and this did disrupt our game but we still should have secured a win. For Rumney, Man of the Match was Paul Langley."

Dave Escott, Rugby Secretary Rumney RFC : "We played some very, very good rugby to put us 17 - 5 in front but I felt that we still needed another score. Paul Langley made a fine break and I believe he could have gone on to score himself, or the winger should have been fed the ball but either way we failed to get that important try. In the second half we put pressure on Bedwas but we didn't turn that pressure into points and that is our biggest problem this season. We could have won seven or eight more games if we had converted pressure into points. On some occasions we have scored points and we are better than the record indicates but we do not have strength in depth. Gareth Cleaver did well at outside half and Paul Langley was outstanding. Pauli Masoe had an excellent first team debut and did a good job for us."