12 Nov 2015
Aberdare school wins Year 7 tournament
St John the Baptist School in Aberdare walked away with the spoils from today’s hotly contested Year 7 Central festival hosted at the school.
Over 100 boys represented their schools in this 6 team tournament with the winning side going on to the Welsh semi-finals to be held soon.
The two sides who met in the final, St John’s (T team) and Cwm Rhymni were never in doubt as they dominated their respective groups winning both their games each.
Group A Group B
St John’s (S) 0 – 22 Cyfarthfa St John’s (T) 24 – 6 Ferndale
Cwm Rhymni 34 – 6 Cyfarthfa Aberdare 34 – 10 Ferndale
Cwm Rhymni 54 – 0 St John’s (S) St John’s (T) 32 – 16 Aberdare
This set up a mouth-watering final as both sides had played some great attacking rugby throughout the afternoon even though the ground was laden with mud and water.
The first half was dominated by Cwm Rhymni’s waves of attack on the St John’s line, but the defence was equal to the task, holding firm and not letting anything through. Going into half time the score was a stalemate at 0 – 0.
The second half saw both sides taking the bull by the horn and attacking flat out, St John’s were duly rewarded when they broke free down the left and their powerful second row crashed through to stretch out and ground, the extras were added for a 6 – 0 lead.
St John’s were once again on the score sheet as their dummy half stepped from the play of the ball and fed the centre with a beautifully timed pass to cross out on the left flank. The kick was missed.
With 6 minutes left on the clock Cwm Rhymni were rewarded with a try to pull them back into the game, a great breakaway try down the right saw their speedy winger go outside 3 men to score. The kick was successful and with only 4 points between the two sides it set up a tense last few minutes.
As much as Cwm Rhymni attacked, St John’s defence was equal to the pass and when Cwm Rhymni went for a power play on the 5th tackle with seconds to go, St John’s won the turnover and sealed the game.
Final Score: St John’s 10 – 6 Cwm Rhymni.
St John’s now progress to play the semi-final of the winner of tomorrow’s East festival.