Beaufort Match Report

Date:- 4th October 2008

Venue:- Caerleon

Fixture:- WRU League Division 6

CAERLEON RFC 3 POINTS BEAUFORT RFC 18 POINTS

Foul weather and heavy rain were mitigating factors against playing any sort of open rugby but Beaufort managed to craft out 3 unanswered tries and did so by tailoring their game to the atrocious conditions.

Caerleon had the much heavier pack and tried to win the match in a flourish electing to run the ball on every occasion. This tactical naivety cost them dearly when they met a well organised uncompromising defence . They did open the scoring with a well judged penalty but it was their only success . By the second quarter Beaufort had found the measure of their opponents and a superb individual display by Dylan Smith at standoff controlled the rest of the match. He kicked wisely to turn his opponents and only released his three quarters when they were in striking distance of the line. It was not pretty rugby but effective for the conditions .

It was Smith who got Beaufort's opening try scored following a charge down .The second came from the best movement of the day. This was a multi phased effort between backs and forwards switching the ball left then right and left again by which time full back Darrel Roper found himself unmarked and he galloped through to score for a half time lead of 10 points to 3

As the match wore on conditions worsened making it increasingly difficult to control the ball. In the third quarter the home side did rally to remind Beaufort they could ill afford to sit on their lead But they made a hash of a kick able penalty which might have got them back into contention. After that Beaufort extinguished any further hope of a revival in a ruthless fashion. The pivotal score came again from Smith when his forwards won clean possession from a good field position . They conjured up enough space and time for him to drop a goal from twenty meters to widen the gap 13 points to 3

In a desperate attempt to break the stranglehold Caerleon tried to run the ball out their own 22 . A disastrous mix up in communication gifted Beaufort flanker Jason Taylor a try when he intercepted a lobbed pass to run in and score unchallenged. Beaufort just missed out on fourth in the closing moments to deprive them of a bonus point.

Considering the conditions this was Beaufort's best showing of the season, . Up front Justin Roberts had another fine match as did his lock Mark Heasely but essentially it was a very satisfying all round team performance. Centre Geraint Phillips was voted Beaufort's star man for his destructive tackling in closing down the Caerleon mid field.

Next week Beaufort are at home to new league debutants Abertysswg

BARRIE CASWELL

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