Old Illtydians moved into the last 32 of the Swalec Bowl with a hard fought win in appalling conditions on Saturday. The Illts kicked off into a stiff wind, and with torrential rain falling onto a very soft pitch the game was never going to be high scoring. The quality of the Illts performance in the first 20 minutes was exceptional and this was ultimately what the won the game for the visitors, with the pitch cutting up more and more any quality rugby became impossible as the game wore on.
The Illts carried with purpose against the wind and retained the ball superbly, with the forwards making the hard yards and rucking effectively. After a long series of phases the home side were caught offside, allowing fly half Taylor Direen to slot an early penalty 3-0. The pattern was repeated with wing Sam Montague stopped just short after being released down the flank by Tom Wheeler, his attempted offload didn’t go to hand and the home side used the strong wind to clear to halfway. The respite was brief and after more good carrying by the forwards and centre McHardy, a bust by Ryan Paul had the home side scrambling before full back Campbell McMillan cut a lovely line to score from Direen’s pass.
The home side just couldn’t get their hands on the ball at this stage and after another long passage of attacks a second penalty was kicked by Direen to extend the lead to 11-0. At this stage things looked rosy for the visitors but with handling becoming more difficult, a few errors started creeping into the visitors game, allowing the home 10 to punt the Illts deep back into their own territory using the huge wind advantage. The Illts scrum was also struggling; missing props Josh Harris and Rob Rowley, second row Ryan Paul had stepped up to loosehead with Adam Taylor switching to the tight, and both had their work cut out against huge forwards, with the additional weight presenting a real problem in the slippery conditions.
Using the large forwards to carry close to the ruck the home side pounded away at the Illts line but were repelled time and time again. When the Illts managed to turn the ball over there was no option to kick due to the strength of the wind, but they put themselves under pressure with offloads and long passes when the short carrying game they had played for the first 20 minutes may well have been more effective.
The scrum was becoming a potent weapon for the hosts, with the Illts further disrupted with hooker Aled Roberts leaving the field, Stuart Wilby stepped up from the second row to hooker, and it was through this that they eventually broke through, scoring a penalty try after shoving the Illlts backwards from a scrum 5. A rare test of their own medicine for the pack. The Illts managed to hang on until half time, to lead 11-7 with both sides retreating to the warmth of the changing rooms for a few minutes.
The Illts lost Wilby to a shoulder injury, meaning the game went to passive scrums as they could no longer field a hooker. This was probably the last chance for the home side gone as they couldn’t press home their advantage through this route, although they did create a few opportunities early in the second half before the Illts realised they could use the torrential wind to their advantage. Once centre Matt Banner launched a kick into the home 22 the visitors never really progressed past the half way line. In truth neither side really looked like scoring as it was almost impossible to get past more than a couple of phases without the ball being spilt.
The Illts did make their position comfortable with 15 minutes left, Andrew Thomas, on at flanker producing a great charge down which allowed Daniel Molcher to drop on the ball for his third try of the season, making the game safe at 16-7. The rest of the game petered out, with both sides relived to head to the changing rooms and a warm shower at the end.
The Illts final game of 2015 is home to Fairwater on the 19th, with the annual Christmas awards and Cardiff v Rest of the World pub games to follow. See you all next week!
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