COWBRIDGE 2ND XV 10 SEA VIEW RFC 33

SATURDAY saw Sea View's first away league fixture of the season, venturing into the depths of the Vale with a visit to Cowbridge.

With both the Ravens and the 2nd XV matches called off by the opposition the View took the field in front of a large and vocal crowd - their support well and truly outnumbering the home crowd.

The customary View slow start saw Cowbridge take the lead with a converted try and a penalty, and but for some sterling defensive work the lead could have been larger.

View dug in and a series of gain line breaking drives from the back row of O'Connell, Ford and Azzopardi drove the Islanders into the Cowbridge half. Early injuries saw a reshuffle of the View back line, Chris Brown replacing the injured Bussy.

With James Braithwaite controlling things at half back, a deft pass set Joe Maytum on a drive for the Cowbridge line, where he was tackled and held. Cowbridge gave away a penalty - a quick tap and go and scrum half Reth Davies darted over the line to score by the post. Impatience to get on with the game led to the conversion being missed.

From the kick off the View attacked and drove up the park for substitute Chris Brown to break through the defence to score under the posts. Making up for his earlier miss Jake Williams slotted the conversion to give the View a 10-12 half time lead.

The View further extended their lead with Leon Ford storming through to score under the posts. Cowbridge fought back but were unable to cope with the sustained pressure from the View forwards.

The front row of Matt James, Nathan Pearson and Matt Stanger had immense games in the loose, the 2nd row of Maytum and Lowes continually drove over the gain line to produce a platform for the View backs, and deft runs from Josh Barker and Tom Martin began to tell.

Another View attack saw Jake Williams, despite being tackled by two Cowbridge players, put a pass through to Tom Martin who blazed over the line for the View's fourth try. Late on Nathan Harding took a lovely pass from Matt O'Connell, drew the defence and popped the ball out for Jake Williams to storm over for a fifth and final try.

But for the teeming rain resulting in handling errors Sea View could have scored several more tries.

Thanks to Cowbridge for their post match hospitality and to our travelling support.

This week the View are at home to Sully Sports RFC, kick off 2.30pm.