Match report from Neath Athletic game

(From the nimble fingers of Mike Morgan)

Sunday 4th October 2009

Neath Athletic 24 Mumbles Crusaders 49

For today's game, the good ship Crusaders set sail for the uncharted territories of the Eastern Archipelago that is Castell Nedd Sur le Mer. With spirits high after a good start to the season and with Lyndon L and Mike M entrusted with the magical magnetic GPS stones and safely avoiding the wrath of the local emperor and his marauding elephants, we arrived at Cwrt Herbert at 10:30 for an 11.00 start. With the players now being given distinctive roles in training and games (Film Stars = Backs, Murderers = Forwards), today's Hollywood's were Nathan, Max, Bradley, Zach and Sam while today's Assassins were Keiran, Lloyd, Cian Cameron, Mathew and Connor.

Set against the tranquil backdrop of the Dwr - Y - Felin Ivory Towers of Academia, the Crusaders soon got into their rhythm with a distinctive improvement in most facets of play. Particularly effective was the work at the breakdown with all players who arrived early clearing out past the ball and leaving the egg on a plate for the tradesman players. With good clean ball the Mumbles were able to up the pace to ramming speed and play some good continuous rugby. The pace and intensity in which Mumbles played this period resulted in a half time score of 28 - 7 with the Athletic scoring in the last passage of play.

After a morale sapping half time talk from rugby Svengali Lyndon and the Synergy boosting Orange segments courtesy of Jason C, the second period took much the same shape as the first whereby:

"the synchronicity and symbiotic relationship between forwards and backs became totally harmonised" ( Citation - "You to Can Become an Ospreys Coach"
2009 edition Penguin Books Page 3)

This approach led to Mumbles scoring some fantastic tries and although Adam and his Abacus almost reached meltdown keeping tabs on this, the indomitable players from Neath refused to lie down and proved more than a match for the invigorated Mumbles players, matching them blow for blow during this period. Yet again it was pleasing to see all the players on show play within the true spirit of the game and distribute the ball effectively which resulted in a number of different try scorers and goal kickers from both teams.

However, the final scoreline in no way does full justice to the massive and magnificent effort of the good people of Neath Athletic who were short of a number of players due to illness. Our thanks goes to all their players for giving us a thorough workout and their excellent coaches Carl and Dai. Yet again it is a fixture we look forward to honouring in the future.