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Having won our first four league games comfortably, the air of optimism was tangible in the village. Would we finally go down the Sirhowy Valley to the Dees and come away with a win? A lot of people certainly thought so what with their indifferent start to the season. What was witnessed was once again poor game management and ineffective tackling which contributed to the Dale going down to their first league defeat of the season 32-21 on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

You wouldn’t have thought we would have had an open game of running rugby what with the torrential downpour an hour before the game but the clouds cleared, the rain went away and a good crowd waited, mostly for Oakdale blood to be spilt but the others just wanted an entertaining game of rugby.

Ynysddu started the brighter of the two sides, looking to keep the ball in play and using their dangerous runners at every opportunity but it was the Dale that had the first chance to score the first points of the day. With a deep kick into the Dees 22, Oakdale pinched the ball at the lineout through Cerrig Wilson. Barber spun it out to Veall who sent Trevor James up the middle when Trevor was tackled just before the line the Dale support were there in numbers ready to set the ruck for the next attack. What they weren’t ready for was Barber doing his bit for inter-valley relations with his boot and some poor soul at the bottom of the ruck go it but so did the Ref and he blew for a Dees penalty.

Ynysddu kicked the ball out to relieve the pressure and won the ensuing line-out. They made some good yards with some powerful drives into the Oakdale half and soon the Referee awarded another home side penalty when he adjudged that the Dale were not rolling away from the tackle. The kick wasn’t an easy one but it did go close. What it didn’t do was go over but Wilf, the ever-reliable HOME linesman decided that it did, gave the ref a wink and he awarded the three points (B@stards).

From the restart, Ynysddu gathered and immediately went searching for more points. Without too much of an attempt to stop the home side their winger ran outside then inside Luke Lovell on the wing and covered all of 50 metres without so much of an Oakdale hand placed upon him. The conversion was good and the home side sailed into an early 10-0 lead.

Dangerous was now the operative word to use for the home side and they nearly increased their lead shortly after when the crossed the Dale’s line once more but the Ref brought everyone back to where a forward pass had been committed.

On 22 minutes Oakdale kicked a penalty into the Dees 22. With their line-out functioning well the ball was safely gathered by Ryan Jarman and the maul was set. Graham Heath fancied his chances with a good run and Jarman backed him up with a couple of yards of his own. Barber then set the backs in motion and Veall sent Crippa up the middle. He had the nous to take the tackle but also make the ball readily available so when his centre partner Trevor came looking for work the ball was ready to be laid off for him to score the dale’s first points of the day. Veall added the conversion and Oakdale closed the gap to 10-7.

With Oakdale now dominant in the scrum and the line-out their own possession needed to be used wisely in order to control a dangerous Ynysddu side in the loose. Another Dees line-out was pinched and when the ball found its way to Crippa he switched with Trevor and the old TJ chip was witnessed for the first time this season. With Trevor giving good chase the Dees full back had no option with a difficult bouncing ball but to hack it back over his own line and touch it down gifting Oakdale a 5 metre scrum. The Dees popped the first scum but Oakdale weren’t waiting around on the second attempt. The pick-up was quick and a couple of attacks were well managed by the home side. When no joy was to be found on the open side Barber fed the Big Man Scott Evans who passed to his mentor in life Dai Tovey. Always one for doing the simple things right on the field everyone expected him to trundle through some unsuspecting defender but when he choose the outside as the option nobody expected any success what with his weary legs. What no-one expected was him to fling the ball inside FROM AROUND HIS BACK barbarian style to feed Crippa who scored right in the corner for the dale’s second try of the day. Veall was very unlucky with the conversion but Oakdale went into a 12-10 lead on 27 minutes.

Oakdale now had their tails up and from the restart made some hard yards with a good driving maul and picking the right time to attack the fringes. When the Dees infringed the ref duly awarded the penalty which Oakdale kicked deep into the home side’s 22/ the ball was safely gathered and further yards were gained but the Dees were aggressive in their defence and eventually won themselves a penalty when Evans was penalised for holding the ball on the floor and they cleared their lines.

With the last play of the half Ynysddu got their noses back in front form an infringement I didn’t see. That didn’t matter though as I wasn’t the Ref. The Dees kicker was solid and put his effort through the uprights to give the home side the lead at the break which Oakdale should have been disappointed with after they weathered the home side’s early onslaught and put in a dominant forward performance.

HALF TIME SCORE – YNYSDDU RFC 13 V 12 OAKDALE RFC

Five minutes into the second half the Ref was found guilty again of listening to the home side too much and he awarded the Dees a penalty against Oakdale for offside. The penalty attempt was good and the Dees extended their lead to 16-12.

Straight from the restart Oakdale were again found wanting in the attention stakes when a combination of missed tackles and effective running saw Ynysddu crossed for more points but this time the conversion was missed but the lead was further enhanced by five points taking Ynysddu into a 21-12 lead.

Things went a bit awry from here on in as the Ynysddu defence took it upon themselves to rearrange Trevor’s kneecap around the side of his leg. Being that ever caring team we are I spent the rest of the game stuck with him in the changing rooms but I am told Oakdale scored shortly afterwards through a Dai Tovey try and Veall conversion to close the gap to 21-19.

Ynysddu though came straight back at the Dale and I saw some shocking tackling which a the home side attacker busted through at least five Oakdale defenders and went in under the posts for a converted try to take them away again at 28-19.

The game was held up further when Trevor James’ substitute, Grenville Jones had to leave the field with a broken hand but this didn’t stop Ynysddu who put over another penalty to keep more than seven away from the Dale at 31-19. Oakdale put a penalty over themselves with time running out and had one more chance at the end of the game to gain the losing bonus point but the kick went wide, the Ref blew up and the Ynysddu players and supporters celebrated in their usual fashion.

FULL TIME SCORE – YNYSDDU RFC 31 V 22 OAKDALE RFC

If I were to explain the headline I would say that at the moment, the sides we have played have been completely dominated in scrums and line-outs. We have the power and we have the ability to control the game in those areas. Where we are losing it is not having an 80 minute structure to our game, not playing the game in the right areas of the pitch and sometimes our defence is letting us down, something that has not happened for a long time. None of us want to go down there and lose, we know how much it means to them but do we truly understand who much it means to us collectively. Two key injuries didn’t help us but we all know that we could have showed up better in the game and maybe, just maybe, come away with a win. We didn’t and that’s rugby. Congratulations to the Dees they are starting to find their form again but we will have Wilf when he comes up to the Dale for that shocking call at the missed penalty attempt.

Cost of entry to the game – £2.00 – It’s hard to get in for free down there, there’s gatemen everywhere

Quality of Matchday Programme – Well, the programme (glossy part) hasn’t changed now in three seasons, they must have committed sponsors or their colour printer has broken. The inner pull-out has seen some improvements but still not as good as ours

Quality of Aftermatch Meal – The boys tell me that they weren’t fussed on the sauce that came with the pasta and it resembled the sauce that you get out at Caldicot. It certainly wasn’t the beef done in the slow cooker that we had last season. The Committee didn’t mind though as they were invited to join the Past Players event in the lounge and were treated to a Dees buffet, very nice too it was