Aberystwyth 2nd XV 31-19 Marjon 2nd XV
After the 6 and half hour coach journey to Aberystwyth, with very little entertainment aside from resting the eyes, the usual ‘Marjon slow start’ was what was expected from the travelling side. However, in extremely windy conditions in the north of Wales, it was the home team that found themselves on the back foot from the start. With the welsh boys dominating in the pack, it was recognised early on that the backs would need to be used if Marjon were to be successful in the match and there were a few breaks made by strong running lines in the first 15 minutes. Eventually, one of these breaks told with an offload inside the opposition 22 from fly half Josh Cousens bouncing kindly into the hands of debutant Dave Broughton who brushed off the would be tacklers to crash home under the posts. The extras were added by Cousens. The Marjon backs continued to threaten but the next try was down to some hard forward work. After a quick tap resulted in a high tackle close to the line, Alex Elcock ran a strong line off the following ruck and with the help of his team-mates, crossed the line to touch down. This considerably harder kick from out wide was not converted by fly half Cousens. Although a penalty was then scored by the home side, it was the sin bin given to 13 Will Fallows, for constant penalties from the whole team, which damaged the Marjon side more than anything. This yellow card was received 5 minutes before the half time whistle, meaning that Marjon would have to play the first 5 minutes of the second half with 14 men. Half time score 12-3 to Marjon.
The second half could not have started worse for the visitors. After the kick off was allowed to bounce and dribble into the Marjon 22 for a line-out, Aberystwyth then stole the ball from that line-out and mauled over to score instantly. There was more hard work from their forwards and long kicking with the wind at their backs which resulted in another quick fire try for the home side. A second yellow card for Marjon then followed due to full back Anthony Cox talking back to the referee on more than one occasion. This further ten minutes down to 14 men hit hard, and Aberystwyth managed to score two more tries in this time, although Marjon did manage a try of their own through the inside centre Matt Collins, as he swooped brilliantly to claim a bouncing ball and race round the defence to dot down. This was also converted by Josh Cousens which gave the away team hope of a comeback with the score at 24-19. However, this proved to be a consolation as a sustained period of pressure led to Aberystwyth scoring a try from a scrum with ten minutes to go.
There were no further scores and Marjon failed to recover the deficits that were suffered in the two periods when they were down to 14 men. Despite some clear positives, discipline was the major downfall of the Marjon side, who need to learn to use their captain to communicate with the referee. They will be looking to do this at home to Southampton 4th team this Wednesday.
Marjon Rugby Football Club 