Rain, rain and more rain greeted the Druids as they journeyed to Machen RFC trying to seek a third successive victory. The pitch awaiting them, had pools of water lying on its surface, making it a welcoming site.
The Druids had a squad, which contained a strong contingent of young players,fresh into senior rugby.It had to be seen whether the atrocious playing surface would affect their inexperiencd legs.
From the kick-off play was fairly even with the Druids having better of the skirmishes and being slighly quicker to the ball. Outside Half Greg Wilding kicked well in support of his forwards and Graham Powell was very productive in the middle of the line-out. The pack as a whole started well and won more than their fair share of ball. Hooker Shaun Oaten was very lively and has great promise whilst the scrum which started sluggishly, improved as the game progressed.
It was from a scrum that the Druids took the lead.The ball which was initially won by Machen, was picked up by Flanker Ian Jeffs, who made ground and fed Skipper Paul King, who inturn passed to Greg Wilding.He threw out a long pass to Left Wing Sam Harding who dived over in the corner.This try was converted, excellently,by Greg Wilding
Machen's only response was a penalty goal by Full Back Chris Jones which gave an interval score of 7 points to 3 points.
As the second period commenced,Machen raised the tempo and the first time tackling of the Druids was suspect.It was the Druids howevever, who extended their lead when they scored another try coming from a series of scumages close to the home sides line.A huge effort from the pack forced Machen backwards behind their own line- a difficult feat in the very wet conditions. Number Eight Darren Cresswell gathered the ball to dive over for an unconverted try. The smiles on the faces of the Druids forwards, said it all as they enjoyed that moment. The Druids were not finished and once more found themselves close to the Machen line.From a line-out, a maul developed and Flanker Chris Davies sped around on the blind side to slide over.Again the kick failed. Machen had the last say when,perhaps with the assistance of the sympathetic referee,scored a try from a tap penalty, 5 metres from the Druids line.Their Scrum Half Robbie Edwards wriggled over the Druids try-line despite desperate tackling.This try was unconverted and the game ended in a 17 points to 8 points victory for the Druids.This win was hard fought but was some consolation for a heavy defeat on the last ocassion they visited Machen. It was the performance of the youngsters which was so promising with Full Back James Hughes,Hooker Shaun Oaten and Outside Half Greg Wilding prominant.After the poor start to the season, results are now all square and if the youngsters can be retained and supported by the older heads, then the future is assured.
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