Previous results

Rumney : 15.P.Nash 14.H.Amadife 13.I.Blackburn 12.I.McIntyre 11.J.Offside 10.J.Macdonald  9.G.Tattersall 1.R.Hanmer  2.M.Feneck (Capt) 3.C.Gale 4.M.Harrington 5.A.Gardner  6.C.Barker 7.R.Sutton 8.C.Jones  Replacements : M.Kelly J.Harris I.McIntyre W.Price

Merthyr : 15.G.Thomas 14.G.Jones 13.J.Wheeler 12.D.Lewis 11.P.Corcoran 10.M.Davies  9.N.Lancaster 1.J.Difford  2.S.Dobson 3.M.Wilson 4.J.Vaughan 5.D.Lynch  6.J.Price 7.G.Davies 8.G.Williams  Replacements : D.Thomas R.Coombes D.Baynham J.Purcell

Above, left to right : Henry Amadife, James Harris, Rhodri Hanmer, Andrew Gardner

Scorers for Rumney : J.Offside 2 tries, J.Harris try, P.Nash try, G.Tattersall penalty and 3 conversions

Scorers for Merthyr : M.Davies try and conversion, G.Thomas try, N.Lancaster try, G.Williams try, D.Lewis try

Rumney Man of the Match : Chris Jones

It was high drama all the way in this entertaining encounter at Riverside Park as Rumney and Merthyr renewed their old sporting rivalries after a gap of nearly three years. In an action packed opening period both sets of forwards tested each other out and forced their opponents into errors. After six minutes Merthyr conceded a scrum near their line, Rumney No8 Chris Jones picked up at the base, fed scrum half Gethin Tattersall breaking on the right and Tattersall's snap pass to Joey Offside put the winger over unopposed for the opening try. The visitors came back strongly with plenty of aggressive play, using their forward power to gain ground and then releasing their backs and although Rumney managed to keep them out, a lineout infringement gave away possession and Merthyr outside half Mark Davies dropped a neat goal.

The home side maintained their attacking approach but frequently gave away possession and after a storming run by Merthyr's outstanding forward, flanker and captain Jason Price, the vistors found a gap in the defence and full back Gethin Thomas scored the try which put his side into a 5 - 8 lead after twenty minutes.

Rumney immediately struck back with a midfield drive and when outside half James Macdonald and centre Paul Niblett switched wide, flanker Ryan Sutton tore a huge gap in the opposition defences, came up with an outrageous one handed, inside flick which was gathered on the burst by Offside, and the winger raced in for his second try. Tattersall's conversion restored the home side's lead to 12 - 8 but the Ironmen came back on the attack with Davies creating clean breaks and finding himself unlucky not to score. When Merthyr killed the ball in a ruck Tattersall slotted a penalty from thirty five metres, but with Price and No8 Gareth Williams working well together, the visitors forced a close range penalty from which scrum half Nick Lancaster shot over for a surprise try. The conversion was the last score of the half and the sides arrived at the interval on even terms, with a score of fifteen points each.

From the restart Merthyr exerted more forward pressure and camped in the home twenty two until Macdonald relieved the situation with good clearance kicks. Having worked their way back into the twenty two, the Ironmen gained clean lineout possession and led by Price, drew in defenders until Williams saw his opportunity and crashed over in the corner for a try. Now trailing 15 - 20 Rumney launched attacks from all parts of the field, Chris Jones, Andrew Gardner and Ryan Sutton creating impressive breaks and centre Ian McIntyre also finding his way towards the line. With sixty minutes on the clock, a drive into the Merthyr twenty two was halted and a ruck established, when out of the blue, prop James Harris neatly scooped up the ball and raced between defenders for an excellent opportunist try. Tattersall's conversion took his side back into a 22 - 20 lead and they looked particularly dangerous when sprinter Henry Amadife was only stopped from scoring a long range try by a foot on the line, but indiscipline in the home pack gave the visitors a penalty and the opportunity to move back deep into Rumney territory. This time it was lock Julian Vaughan who controlled the forward drive and when the ball was released to the backs, Thomas put centre Daniel Lewis over for the touchdown which placed Merthyr back in the lead at 22 - 25.

With only six minutes remaining an electrifyling, fifty metre break by Niblett seemed to have been contained when the Ironmen killed the ball and then succeeded to drive Rumney out of close attacking range, but Tattersall quickly fed Amadife and the winger blasted clean through the midfield and found full back Paul Nash following up to take a flick inside and cruise in under the posts. Tattersall converted the try and although Merthyr were still attacking strongly in the closing minutes, Macdonald's fine line kicking again drove them back and they were unable to influence the final score with Rumney running out victors by 29 - 25.

Danny Wilson, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "This team can score from anywhere and we can play really good expansive rugby, but we can also be inconsistent. Rumney are very dangerous attackers and we are concentrating on a few weaknesses, we are scoring very good tries but need to tighten up in defence. We can play lovely stuff in attack but we must make our 'one on ones'."

Jim O'Brien, Rumney RFC : "A tremendous game of rugby, played very hard and a great advert for Division 2 East . Rumney just about deserved to win because of their speed behind the scrum where Henry Amadife played superbly and Chris Jones had his best game this year too. The Rumney eight did well to hold the Merthyr pack and the Ironmen will be a very tough nut to crack for anybody in this division."

Paul Nash, fullback Rumney 1st XV : "It was a hard, physical game but we stuck at it and did well to get a win. Jonah played brilliantly and so did Ian McIntyre in the centre, it was good team effort."

Above right, Paul Nash