Swansea Uplands 2 Crusaders 3

The Crusaders opened the new year with a hard fought victory at local rivals Swansea Uplands. We were glad to get any rugby with all the frost about. The pitch was a little boggy and the kick off was delayed by 20 minutes. However the boys were patient and Max captained the side.

We choose to play down hill in the first part of the game, split into two eight minutes, a five minutes and a final eight minutes at the end.

Some sturdy tackling kept the Uplands boys at bay, and then some good work in the tackle area led to Jack Park skipping through some tackles to run through for the first try.

We turned around in good spirits and again pressurised the Swansea Uplands line. They kicked out of the 22m (a little bit to our surprise!) and from a couple of good plays, one of their players went over in the corner.

The next five minutes was played downhill and Rhys dipped under a high tackle to squeeze over in the corner. The Uplands then pulled together some dogged drives, and despite a great last ditched tackle by Max, ran over to even up the scores.

The final quarter played uphill saw some of the best tackling of the season. Rhys scored his second try after a couple of passes with a final pass from Tom G. There was a little scare at the end when Max kicked outside of 22m area only to confuse some orange peelings for the 22m markings. Luckily all saw the funny side and we were able to play on.

Finally Max did kick out of the 22m, and excellent follow up work meant that the game finished in the Swansea Uplands half with the scores 3-2 to the visitors.

Everyone made a telling contribution and the tries were preceded by a number of passes and turnover work, showing the team effort required. The tackling was excellent, low and hard, and meaning we had an opportunity to compete for the ball on the ground.

Training is again at Ashley Road at 4.30pm. We will continue with the carousel of skills and game awareness.

We are not certain of whether we have secured a fixture for this weekend, but all the boys who didn't play this week will figure on Sunday in some form.