South Gower Under 9's Match Reports

I have been a bit slack due to no time but here are the last 5 match reports for the Under 9's.

Date : 18.11.07

South Gower - 10

Bonymaen - 1

Tries Scored : Tom Jenkins (2), Tom Mogridge (3), Ethan Smith, Jack Bates, Ben Westerholm, George Grammenos, Dylan John.

What a performance !!!!!!!!

Harry Brown captained the team on this very wet and windy day. South Gower controlled the game from start to finish with some excellent tackling and cleaning up around the contact area. Our very own speedster Tom Jenkins opened the scoring with a great run around the opposition to score a good try. This was followed by the impressive Tom Mogridge. Tom has the knack of entering a maul and leaving unnoticed with the ball and before anyone knows what has happened, he is 30 yards up the pitch scoring a try.

Tom's second try was from a good passage of play, clearing out in the rucks and getting the ball to Tom, who raced clear of the opposition with a final sidestep around Bonymaen's last player to score a great try.

Next up was South Gower's Shane Williams.......Ethan Smith. Good hands from South Gower put Ethan into space. Ethan applied his speed and his sidesteps and raced clear for a fantastic try.

Just before half time, Moggy was in the maul again and ripped the ball free before spinning around and racing clear for a try to make it 5 - 0 to South Gower at half time.

We had 15 players today, so we made 5 changes at half time. We turned Possession over straight away and Moggy ripped the ball free from a maul (again) and fed Jack Bates who raced for the corner. He dived for the line and just made the score for a well worked try.

Next up was Ben Westerholm. The roadrunner received the ball 5 metres from his own try line and dashed down the touchline, before sidestepping back in to the open to race clear for a great try.

Tom Jenkins hadn't scored for 5 minutes so he decided it was his turn for another. The ball was played through the hands to Tom who sprinted down the touchline before a neat sidestep took him past the last defender to score his second of the game. Again, we turned possession over with some great tackling and rucking. We were held on Bonymaen's line with some good mauling when the ball came to Max Collis. Max, unselfishly passes to George Grammenos who waltzed over the line unopposed for a good team try.

Bonymaen replied with a try of their own whilst our defence fell asleep and scored in the corner.
South Gower had to have the last say and this time the ball was fed out to Dylan John who charged his way through one tackle before neatly sidestepping the last defender to score a great try.

This was by far our best performance of the season and the rucking and tackling has vastly improved. The team should be proud of themselves as we controlled the game completely and shut Bonymaen out of the game.

Well done Lads !

Date : 11.11.07

Penclawdd - 6

South Gower - 7

Tries Scored - Tom Mogridge (4), Ethan Smith, Tom Jenkins (2)

Dylan Griffiths captained the Gower against his old club and led from the front.

We had 18 players and played 9 a side, so we had 2 completely different teams for each half.

South Gower opened the scoring with our very own Shane Williams...Ethan Smith. Ethan received the ball on the wing after some great hands from Gower and raced clear for the first

try.

Ethan wisely offloads to Bullethead Bates before the onslaught !

Next up was Gowers' version of New Zealand's Richie McCaw !....Tom Mogridge. Tom ripped the ball form a maul and sidestepped his way into space before racing clear to score a good try.

Penclawdd replied with a good try. They had 2 massive players who we didn't want to tackle ! They split open our defensive line before offloading to make it 2 - 1.

Gower replied again with Moggy ! Tom received the ball and jinked his way through Penclawdd to score a wonderful try. Again, we turned over the opposition and moved the ball to Moggy. This time Moggy used his raw pace to slice the opposition open and race clear for his 3rd of the game. Penclawdd restarted and some good tackling set up a maul.
Jack Bates runs with Dylan and Connor in support

Enter Richie McCaw. Tom went in and came out with the ball before disappearing towards the try line to score his fourth of the match. Just before half time, penclawdd responded with a good try. One of their bigger players rampaged straight through us and our lack of tackling invited their player to make it 5 - 2 at half time.

We changed the team completely at half time and a new set of 9 players entered the fray.

I don't know why, but the sight of these big boys from Penclawdd made weary of tackling and they opened the scoring.

We replied in style with Tom Jenkins racing around the complete Penclawdd team to score a great try in the corner. Again, no tackling cost us as penclawdd scored 3 unanswered tries before Tom Jenkins raced clear for the winner. Luckily before the ref blew for full time, Penclawdd looked in for a try to equalise but Tom Jenkins got back and made a match saving tackle and the game ended 7 - 6 to South Gower.

Tom Jenkins proves size is not everything !!!

Our attacking was breathtaking at times but our defence left a lot to be desired. This is something we will be concentrating on in training.
Well done lads for another good win.

Date : 02.11.07

South Gower - 8

Bynea - 2

Tries Scored - Tom Jenkins (5), Cameron Barker (2), Tom Mogridge.

George Grammenos captained the team against our Scarlets opposition. The game started with a bang, when Bynea kicked off, Tom Jenkins caught the ball and cut the opposition apart with a fantastic try. Bynea replied with a try before Tom Jenkins got his hat-trick before half time with some searing runs making it 3 - 1 at half time.

Tom Jenkins, aka Bryan Habana, aka The Cheetah !!!!!!!!!

We started the second half well with Tom Jenkins opening the scoring again. Again, his pace was the key as he raced clear of the opposition to score a very good try.

Moggy races clear much to the unhappiness of the Bynea supporters !

Cameron Barker was next up after receiving the pass in space, Cam put his head down and scored in the corner. Bynea replied with a good try of their own before Tom Jenkins scored his 5th of the game. Tom Mogridge joined in on the fun and scored one of his trademark, rip the ball and run tries !

Moggy rips the ball and races clear unopposed

Connor Holt breaks his way through some tough Bynea tackles

Cameron Barker finished of the scoring with a well taken try, his second of the game.

All in all, a very good performance from the boys resulted in a convincing win.

Well done !

Date : 21.10.07

South Gower - 5

Fall Bay - 0

Tries Scored - Jack Bates, Tom Jenkins, Ethan Smith, Ben Westerholm, Tom Mogridge.

Tom Mogridge captained South Gower against our local rivals on a perfect day for rugby.

We started well and applied constant pressure on Fall Bay when the ball was passed through the hands to Jack Bates who charged through 3 players to score a great try.

This was followed by Tom Jenkins who skinned the opposition to score.

Tom Jenkins opens up to race clear from Fall Bay

Fall Bay never looked like causing us any problems and as soon as they had possession, we were straight up on them forcing a turnover. This time, Ethan Smith received the pass before jinking through Fall bay to score a good try. Again, we turned over possession and the ball was worked to the Roadrunner. Ben Westerholm raced past the opposition and cut back inside to score a blinder and put South Gower up by 4 tries to nil at the break.

Ben Westerholm cuts back inside the opposition to score a great try

We made 5 changes at half time to ensure everyone who turns up plays. Tom Mogridge opened up the scoring for the half with some good team play.

Moggy races clear leaving the opposition in his wake to score a brilliant try !

We turned Fall Bay over with some good tackling and rucking to follow. The ball came to Moggy who raced clear of the opposition to score a wonderful try.

Harry Brown breaks clear of Fall Bay

Fall Bay came back into the game in the second half, but our defence was great and we repelled their attacks every time.

The game ended 5 - 0 to South Gower in which was another convincing win Bryan & Jon's all black army !

Well done lads !

Date : 14.10.07

Gowerton - 0

South Gower - 4

Tries Scored - Dan Garry, Tom Mogridge (2), Tom Jenkins.

Jack "Bullet head" Bates captained the Gower on this damp Sunday morning. We had the bare 10 players so needed a committed game from all the team. This game was extremely tight to start with good tackling from both sides. Some silly knock ons and forward passes restricted us from opening the scoring in the first half and when Tom Jenkins raced clear, i thought we would score, but one of Gowertons players raced back to make a great tackle. Unfortunately, there was no support from the all blacks for Tom and we didn't score.

Half time, 0 -0. We talked at half time and i said that our tackling and close contact play was good but when we break the gain line, we are lacking support. The talk seemed to have worked when straight from the kick off Tom Mogridge raced clear for the line. Another great tackle from Gowerton stopped Tom just short but this time our support was there. We rucked Gowerton off the ball and the pass went out to Dan Garry and he raced over in the corner for the first try of the game.

Some great tackling ensured another turnover and this time Tom Mogridge made it all the way for a great try.

Again, we held Gowerton up in the middle of the park and some great mauling from Moggy and the team meant that Tom was able to spin off the back of the maul to race for his second try of the game. In the final moments of the game, some good passing from South Gower released Tom Jenkins who raw speed tore Gowerton apart to score a great try.

It ended 4 -0 to South Gower in a game that started tight, but when we concentrated and started doing the things that we had been working on in training, we pulled away and came out deserved winners.
Well done lads !