Fixture

Trimsaran kickstarted their 2024/2025 campaign with a bonus point victory against neighbours Pontyates infront of a big crowd at Caeffair on Saturday.

Trim havent played Pontyates in a competitive game for some time , we did play in a pre season friendly last season where the visitors scored a try in the last play to take the win. 

This season Trimsaran were relegated to Division 4 West B last season and Pontyates were moved from Division 5 West Central to Division 4 West B due to the restructure put in place by the WRU. 

A large crowd was present at Caeffair on Saturday to witness this local derby. 

Trim started the game on fire and within 5 minutes touched down in the corner through winger Dan Morgan for the first score of the game, with Outside half Corey Phillips slotting the touchline conversion. 

After having a period of pressure on their own try line and showing good defence, 7 minutes later a chip over the top again it was winger Dan Morgan catching it before passing it to full back Tyler Lea who made a break and with some good passing between the backs Dan Morgan was caught just short of the tryline, from the following ruck scrum half Ben Bridgewater dived over to get his teams second try and leave the score 12-0 after 12 minutes. 

Ben, who was now playing at Centre and Ioan Jones playing at 9 was at it again 5 minutes later, from a scrum a nicely timed pass from Lee Thomas seen Ben glide through a gap and go all the way to get another score and with the conversion successful the score was now Trim 19-0 Pontyates.

Trim wernt taking their foot off the gas and further extended their lead from a penalty to 22-0. 

Pontyates were starting to apply pressure to Trim now, using their bigger players to make yards, Trim had all the answers though in defence with some superb tackling from the back row resulting in Trim regaining possession. From a lineout 10 meters out a superbly worked try from the backs seen winger Johnny Lloyd touch down for his first try in a Trim jersey to secure the bonus point for Trim 5 minutes before the break. 

There was still time for Pontyates to get themselves back into the game, on the stroke of half time, a trip by second row Lee Thomas seen the ref showing him a yellow card and from the following scrum Pontyates had their first score of the game

Half Time - Trimsaran 29-5 Pontyates

That score before half time give Pontyates some confidence and with some ill discipline from the hosts Pontyates applied pressure but a great turnover on the tryline releived the pressure from Trim. 

As Trim looked to play wide a bti of miscommunication led to a dropped pass which Pontyates kicked through and dotted down for their 2nd try of the game. 

In a back and fore game it was now Trims on the attack , a quick tap penalty from Ben Bridgewater and some great hands from the team led to flanker James Stout extending his teams lead. 

The game had further chances for both teams with Pontyates dropping the final pass when they looked like scoring allowing Trim to clear their lines. 

From a maul a great angle by Dan Morgan seen him go through a gap and then set up centre Rhys Baker to score Trims 6th try of the game. Corey successfully converted taking the score to 43-10 with 5 minutes left. 

There was still time for 2 more scores, with Pontyates number 8 making a break through midfield to score for his team. 

Trim had the final say as centre Lee Bates crashed over for the final score of the game and with the conversion successful Trim reached 50 points. 

The ref blew for the full time whistle with a knock on from Pontyates after attempting a break from their own try line. Much to the delight of the large home crowd present. 

Trim start the season with a bonus point win over their local rivals, next weekend we travel to Fall Bay RFC where we will look to build on this performance. 

Trim Try Scorers

Dan Morgan x 1, Ben Bridgewater x 2, Jonny Lloyd x 1, James Stout x 1, Rhys Baker x 1, Lee Bates x 1

Corey Phillips - Conversions x 6 , Penalty x 1