Fixture

On Friday night Trimsaran played defending champions Nantgaredig in the West Wales Plate final at Tycroes.

It started well for Trim when our newly reformed Under 7s recorded a win over Tycroes under 7s in a game which was played as a warm up to the West Wales Plate Final. A fantastic win for the future of our club.

There was a massive crowd there which definitely added to the occasion with the Trim section of the support getting right behind the boys from the first whistle to the last. It was great to see the juniors and seniors getting behind each other.

Nant were undefeated in the league all season, winning 22 out of 22 games, completing a double over Trimsaran 30-11 in Nant and 18-17 in Trim. They had reached the semi finals of the National Bowl. Only to lose out to eventual winners Abergavenny when conceding a last minute try.

Understandably Nant would have been favourites for this match and not many people outside the village would have fancied Trims chances against a well drilled Nantgaredig.

The squad and the massive support for the boys believed however and when Trim kicked the game off there was a loud roar to motivate the boys.

It worked and Trim had started the game on fire , taking the game to Nant from the off and would have found themselves unlucky not to go after presurring Nant for the opening period of the game. Credit to the Nant defence though as they held firm. Securing a turnover and a kick ahead it was now them who were applying the pressure on Trim and won a penalty which they slotted over from their winger Lloyd Williams to get the first points of the game and go 3-0 up.

Trim kept the pressure on though and won 2 quick penalties in succession which were both converted by outside half Corey Phillips to give his team the lead. In a  good back and forth contest Nant looked to spread the ball wide and after making a break it looked certain they were going to score beating the last defender but a superb cover tackle from Number 8 Steffan Roberts was met by a loud roar from the Trim supporters as he saved a certain try and even managed to make Nant knock the ball on. Trim cleared the ball from the scrum but as Nant attacked from the lineout the Trim defence was judged to be offside Nant took the advantage and leveled the scores at 6-6 again through Lloyd Williams. From the resulting kick off Nant won another penalty for holding on and this put them back ahead 9-6.

Trims discipline was becoming a bit of a problem now with the green and blacks going through the phases and getting in good field position but discipline allowed Nant to pin them back and when Nant had possession deep in the Trimsaran 22 , Trim give another clinical penalty away and the ref had enough showing Trimsaran captain Ryan Edwards a yellow card. Surprisingly Nant opted for a scrum, considering Trim had the upper hand in the scrum this came as a surprise. Nant tried to apply pressure on the Trimsaran 7 in the scrum but the 7 men more than held their own. Releasing the ball from the scrum, their ‘brave’ choice paid off when Nants full back Dafydd Lewis scored under the posts to leave the half time score 16-6 in favour of Nantgardig.

A great first half display from Trim but they found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard and with only 40 minutes left they knew they had to score first to stand any chance of success.

That’s exactly what they did. Trim dominated the opening period within 10 minutes of the second half found themselves 16-16 through a converted try and a penalty after the forwards sucked the defence in at the ruck and centre Thomas Bonnell beat his man and scored. With Corey Phillips converting the try and slotting over the penalty.

Much to the delight of the big trim support Trim had their heads up and were playing some good rugby.

As has happened often this season, more ill discipline meant Nant had the opportunity to push themselves back ahead 19-16. Again though Trim didn’t put their heads down after falling behind again and used their power in the pack to get themselves deep into Nants 22 , the forwards picked and drove for phase after phase before the call was on for the ball to be spread wide. The ever reliable Thomas Bonnell hit the contact area smashing through one defender before offloading to Phil Griffiths who passed the ball out to Rhodri Mason and some quick handling from Mason before he got tackled with the pass to Dan Griffiths seen Trim score their second try towards the corner. The conversion attempt by Corey Phillips hit the post but Trim were back in the lead 21-19 with 20 minutes to go.

Nant came to life now and withheld more Trim pressure before applying pressure of their own. Some good play from the Divison 3 West B champions resulted in them having another penalty which they slotted over again to once again take the lead 22-21 in this back and forth game! From the resulting kick off Nant cleared their lines but Trim kept the ball in play and by doing this it landed in the hands of the Nant backs who then looked certain to score from an overlap but the final pass was forward and Trim were let off and still had time. From the scrum though the Trim backs looked to make yards and were penalised for holding on. The kick was infront of the posts and this meant it was now a 4 point game with 10 minutes remaining. 25-21 .

A loud roar and shouts of ‘come on Trim’ certainly motivated the boys as they drove a maul from the Nant 22 into their 5 yard line. The forwards kept the ball tight and went phase after phase only for the ref to blow up after a pile of bodies disrupted the ball coming out from the ruck and he went back for a penalty from the previous maul for Nant coming in at the side.

Full back Dan Griffiths kicked the ball into touch. Before the next lineout was set up on the Nant 5 yard line, a rallying call from inspirational scrum half Yogi Bach to the forwards calling the boys into a quick huddle meant the forwards didn’t need more motivation and from the resulting lineout Trim drove the maul over the try line and dotted down through captain Ryan Edwards to score a try to take them back ahead with 4 minutes remaining much to the delight of those Trim supporters present as they went absolutely mental with joy on the touchline! Corey Phillips then extended the lead with a superb conversion. The score was now 28-25 to the green and blacks and with only 3 minutes remaining Nant had to score a try as a penalty would have meant Trim leaving as Plate champions as they had scored 3 tries to Nants 1. 

Nant secured a turnover from the kick off and they had one more chance to try and steal the victory. The game was stopped however as a Nant player went down with a head injury. When the game restarted with a scrum Trim applied pressure to the scrum and were awarded a penalty which was met with a huge roar from all Trim players and supporters present. With time now fast ticking away Nant knew they had to get the ball back but from the resulting lineout Trim once again set a maul up and Nant give away another penalty as they tried to get the ball. Trim then opted for another lineout with less than a minute remaining. Again securing the ball and setting a maul up before ‘last play’ was called and Yogi Bach booted the ball off the field to begin wild celebrations from the players, coaches, first aid and supporters of Trim.

A fantastic performance from everyone involved. It was a fantastic game of rugby as is always the case between these 2 teams which was played infront of a huge crowd. Rough estimation is that there was approx. 400-500 people there watching. Who says the game is dying down west, this shows that there is still plenty of support for the local clubs.

The victory was the least that Trim deserved after taking the game to the league champs and along with it came Trims first piece of silverware since 1999! That is 20 years! Safe to say that celebrations lasted all weekend as we went into our annual sevens festival over the weekend.

A huge thank you to all the supporters that turned up to get behind Trim on Friday night, you got behind the boys and the boys certainly didn’t let anyone down. A performance which done the club, badge on their chest and the village proud.

Man of the Match was announced as Trim flanker Nathan Jones and it was well deserved.

We would like to wish Nantgaredig all the best in division 2 next season.

Huge congratulations to each and every one of the squad for that huge performance last Friday night. What a win!