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For the second week running the Green & Whites
overturned a 10-point deficit to gain victory. But
this win might have far more significance with
Tillery turning over table-topping Talywain in truly
convincing style after the break and, with
second-placed Risca losing for the first time,
putting them in promotion contention, albeit at
still only the half-way stage of the season.
Early play was slow and turgid
with both sides struggling to come to terms with a
really heavy sticky playing surface. Chris Stevens
narrowly failed with a 15th minute penalty for
Tillery before the hosts' backs at last started to
inject some pace into the game. They got their
reward for a well-worked try as they stretched the
Tillery defence left and then right with some deft
handling for a touchdown wide out.
At this stage, Tillery were
incurring the wrath of the referee with a string of
penalties awarded to Talywain which allowed them to
dominate territorially. However, the Tillery eight
had the upper hand in the scrum which allowed them
to keep Talywain at bay and, as the interval
approached, Tillery started to show signs of
matching the home side's efforts behind.
H-T: 5 - 0
The home side continued on the offensive just after
the break and got their second unconverted try just
as Tillery seemed to have cleared any danger with a
counter-attack. The ball was spilled on the 40 metre
line and gathered by the home inside centre who
raced clear for a 10-nil lead.
If the hosts were now starting to think of victory,
they had a rude awakening as Tillery now
demonstrated oodles of character in giving their
best concerted passage of play for the whole season,
dominating for the next thirty minutes in all areas
of the game.
Chris Stevens slotted over a penalty to narrow the
lead before Penn, Stevens and Miles started to run
riot behind with the plentiful possession provided
by the forwards. Penn was floored by an elbow in one
attack by the home blindside who was fortunate to
only see yellow before the home pack were shunted
off the ball at their own put-in on their 22. No. 8,
Lee Meredith, in rampaging form, picked up and
brushed off several tacklers for a score under the
posts converted by Stevens.
All square on the scoreboard, Tillery were now in
full flow and should have taken the lead when a
great handling move broke down at the end as Luke
Pegler unluckily just failed to hold on to the final
pass. The Green & Whites were not to be denied
though as another series of surges upfront
eventually sent Lee Meredith over for a try
converted by Stevens to give them a well-deserved
lead.
To their credit, Talywain threw everything into
attack at the death with the official adding on what
seemed to be an inordinate amount of injury time.
But the Green & Whites was resolute and held out for
a great win that cheered the vocal travelling
support.
MoM: Lee Meredith
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