Sea View RFC 18 TONGWYNLAIS RFC 8

THE WEEKEND brought a change in the weather, and a change in the fortunes of Sea View RFC.

After a hard pre-season and two tough matches against top of the league opposition, Saturday saw the View win a tough encounter with their friends from Tongwynlais RFC, it was a case of 4th time lucky, after a draw and two defeats in matches with the Tong last season.

The View kicked off with the wind behind them, defending the Tesco end, and early pressure soon led to a Tongwynglais infringement, the subsequent penalty kicked by Damien Huggins. Further pressure saw fullback Jay O'Callaghan gather a kick and streak down the wing to score in the left corner.

The View pack had a magnificent day, with Wayne Burston anchoring the scrum at tighthead, and the second row of MacAloon and Suddery providing the power. They drove the Tongwynglais pack back on several occasions, but more importantly on their own ball they were rock solid, giving the View the option to break from no 8 with Jon Blake in rampaging form ably assisted by Messrs Taylor and Ford, or give scrum half Dai Harris the chance to put his backs away.

Fly half Danniel Glennie controlled operations brilliantly, allowing his centres Huggins and Morgan to cause havoc in the Tongwynlais midfield.

Late on in the half with wind and rain howling across the pitch, Ross Adams came off his left wing charged crossfield and was held up just short of the line. From the ensuing ruck Leon Ford powered over to score the View's second try.

The wind and rain made the lineout extremely difficult for both sides, but thanks to the superb lineout jumping of Rhys Macaloon, stealing the Tongwynglais ball on couple of occasions, the View were able to provide quick ball to their backs. The promise shown in previous matches being fulfilled.

The half ended with the score at 13-0 to the View.

The second half began with the View now attacking into the wind, being bombarded by high balls from Tongwynlais. The View backs were superb, wingers Ross Adams, Lee Howells and O'Callaghan at fullback catching everything before charging back up field.

The game flowed from end to end with sterling defence from the View stopping Tongwynlais from exploiting the wind advantage. Willo Williams departed the pitch after showing some promise at hooker.

Half way through the half Lee Howells had a storming run, held up just short of the line, the front row of Burston, Heulin and Ditch crashed into the maul, with Ditch breaking right to crash over the line with half of Tongwynlais holding on to him, for the View's third try. 18-0 to the View.

The View brought on reserves late in the game, Neil Gardener and Mark Veness replacing Danny Suddery and Wayne Burston, both of whom had great games.

A rare View infringement gave Tongwynlais 3 points, this was quickly followed by a well taken try, the Tongwynlais centre weaving through a tired View defence, but it was too little too late, and the final whistle soon went. 18 - 8 to the View.

A superb game with both sides giving their all. As always a massive thanks to our supporters who still turned up despite the weather, it really gives the players a lift. Once again thanks to our sponsors for having faith in us.

Pictures from the game can be seen on the website www.seaviewrfc.co.uk