Fixture

The murmurs coming from over the next valley was that Abertillery BG were a tasty side and one which one be looking to halt the Crazy Eights ascent to world domination. You wouldn’t have thought though that the players were in anyway nervous about facing the green and whites such was their abysmal attempts to ‘warm-up’.

They could be forgiven though due to the melee surrounding Coach Rhys as he was swamped by the locals on his return to his homeland. It was like Mohammed Ali going back to his old hometown and the players couldn’t understand the idolisation of one of their coaches.

With the four Abertillery coaches not wanting to referee the game such was their awe in the presence of ‘The Great One’ it was left to the ‘Messiah’ to don the whistle and the stopwatch and take charge of the morning’s proceedings.

The Apples kicked-off and it was straight ahead from the word go with Max Baldwin making a good change of direction to flummox the defence and go over for the Dale’s first try of the day. Kingsley Parry Lewis go the Dale’s second but it obviously upset the home side as it all kicked off in the corner when KPL celebrated. Fortunately, a 99 was avoided but the dust-up put a tenseness over the match.

Abertillery came storming back into the game with two tries of their own but they were prevented from taking the lead with fine tagging skills displayed from Hannah Benger, Olly Bishop and Elliot Hall. Griff Tovey then opened his account with a brace of his own before max got his second to make the score at the end of the first period, 5-4

The Bananas then took to the field for their first appearance of the morning soaking up the applause from the travelling support. Alfie Short made some good yards and he was supported well by Brody Baker to get the period off to a great start. Josh Bowen was looking menacing, but it was his silky running down the touchline which saw him get on the try sheet. The defence was strong and ably marshalled by Albie Wynn, Poppy Crewe and Harri Williams which allowed for Brody and Olly Morris to get further tries. But no matter how hard they tried they could not get away from their hosts until the dying seconds when Josh Bowen got his second of the morning to finish off the period with a 6-5 score line to the Bananas.

A drinks break allowed the Dale to regather their breath and agree to another two periods to get maximum game time. The Apples stepped back onto the pitch and sent Olly Bishop looking for the hard yards. He took the Dale up the field which allowed Griff Tovey the space to get his hat-trick try. Shay Edwards was looking dangerous in attack and he is getting closer to the touchline every week. The defence though was resolute and kept the home side at bay with some great sets of six tags. This allowed the speedster Tovey to get his fourth try and he was ably assisted by Josh Johnson with one of his own to end the third period with a 3-0 score line.

The last period for the Bananas was a tense one with two evenly matched sides going hammer and tongs to get the ‘W’. Olly Morris tried his hardest to get his team in front with a brace of tries and Kian Davies looked strong in attack and defence in his first official appearance for the Crazy Eights. The Home side couldn’t find no answer to the Bananas and failed to cross the line in the last period and it was finished off with a well taken try from Josh Johnson to help the Bananas to a 3-0 score line.

With the pre-match talk about the strength of the hosts it was great to see the Dale take a 17-12 victory on a crisp autumn morning. Everyone was really pleased to welcome Kian Davies into the fold and it was a great debut from him. The post-match talk was about the skirmish involving KPL in the bottom corner but with the squad understanding they need to support each other in all situations they will be prepared next time.

The player of the match award went to Josh Bowen who not only bagged a brace of tries but showed some great commitment in defence and was a credit to his side. He just needs to stop talking to his Dad when he is refereeing now!!! Well Done JOSH.