A hat-trick from debutant Tom Bowen and tries from both Dewi Cross and Joe Goodchild was accompanied by the boot of both Harri Wilde and Osian Darwin-Lewis as Cardiff recorded a late dramatic 32-25 win in North Wales against RGC.
The deadlock was opened on the six minute mark as Sean Moore expertly turned the ball over at the ruck, the ball was then spread out wide and Matty Young drew the last defender which allowed, Dewi Cross to score on his 45th appearance. Harri Wilde, was shooting into the wind which meant his shot went wide. Moments later, there was an early replacement as Lucas de la Rua was replaced by Evan Rees on the 11-minute mark.
The next opportunity for the Blue and Blacks came after the hosts tried to play out from their own 22 but the ball got spilled into touch. Then, from the resulting lineout the hosts were penalised for coming in at the side and Harri Wilde kicked into the corner. However, after the catch and drive a number of phases followed metres out from the hosts line and the ball was knocked on and RGC eventually cleared to relieve pressure.
After a powerful driving maul from the visitors who managed to get into the hosts half, the Blue and Blacks got their second as Elijah Evans managed to break through and offloaded for debutant Tom Bowen to cross the whitewash. Harri Wilde added the extras to extend the visitors lead to 12-0 on 20 minutes.
Shortly after, the Gogs managed to turn the ball over at the lineout and after a significant amount of phases, the ball was spread out wide for winger Sam Stoddard to cross in the corner. Fullback Dion Jones from distance added the extras to reduce the deficit to five points.
At the half an hour mark, the hosts crossed for their second. This came after a brilliant break from Assistant Coach/Player, Afon Bagshaw who broke through the visitors defence to put the Gogs metres out, then a number of powerful hits followed and Sam Williams crossed over.
There was another injury for the visitors as scrum-half Sion Davies was replaced by Joe Williams who came on to make his 30th appearance for Cardiff. It didn’t take long for Williams to make an impact as he broke through the visitors defence and offloaded to Tom Bowen to score his second of the match. Wilde added the extras as the Blue and Blacks went in at the break 19-12 up.
HT: RGC 12-19 Cardiff
It was a great partnership between centres Elijah Evans and Jason Harries who created the Blue and Blacks third, as a break from Evans who eventually offloaded to Harries who kicked in behind to get up into the 22. It was then successfully gathered by Tom Bowen who won the foot race to cross over for his third. Wilde was unable to add the extras.
On the 49-minute mark, the hosts had an opportunity to score, outside-half Billy McBryde broke through but heroic defending from the Blue and Blacks put a stop to that attacking threat after holding the ball up over the line and Harri Wilde cleared from a goaline dropout.
Referee Tom Spurrier penalised Marc Thomas for an off the ball infringement and Dion Jones added the three to reduce the deficit to nine points. Then, after continuous pressure on the Blue and Blacks defence, second row, Tal Taylor crossed over with Dion Jones adding the extras made proceedings interesting going into the final quarter.
On 68-minutes, Dion Jones converted a penalty to put his side in front for the first time in the game after the visitors were penalised at the breakdown. Shortly after, Dewi Cross made an impressive break up field into the 22 but was unable to successfully offload.
The boot of Osian Darwin-Lewis was instrumental in the closing moments with the Gogs being penalised for being off their feet and after converting the three points, it added scoreboard pressure going into the dying moments for the hosts.
However, try-scorer Dewi Cross made another brilliant break and this time around successfully offloaded to replacement Joe Goodchild who crossed over to secure the Blue and Blacks a 32-25 win in North Wales.
FT: RGC 25-32 Cardiff
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