VALLEY COUGARS 62 WEST WALES RAIDERS 18

By Ian Golden at Treharris RFC

Valley Cougars had a dominant second half against West Wales Raiders as they cruised to a 62-18 drubbing in the battle of South Wales in Treharris on Saturday.

West Wales fought well in the first half and with the score at 14-12 at the break, the stage was set for an exciting second stanza.

But there was only one winner after the break as the Cougars’ superior strength and fitness, as well as experience took over.

Cougars started well on four minutes after Dean Higgs went in under the sticks and Ben Jones converted.

Raiders were soon level after Liam Johnson sold Cougars a beautiful dummy and went over just right of the sticks. Luke Williams converted to make it 6-6.

Cougars regained the lead on 20 minutes after Lewis Wilkes forced his way over from close range. The conversion was missed.

It quickly went to 14-6 after a brilliant Cougars try. Shane Lee’s kick confused the West Wales backline and Jamie Marsh snatched the ball in mid-air to ground. Jones missed again for the second and final time of the afternoon.

Raiders were awarded a small lifeline after Ross Price was yellow carded for some reckless play and they made use of the extra man after Curtis Ford ran through to score. Williams converted. 14-12 at the break.

Cougars were still down to 12 men at the start of the second half but it didn’t stop Rhys Davies scoring  and Jones converting to make it 20-12.

The hosts were back to 13 soon and Higgs notched his second which Jones improved.

That was soon followed up by a Marsh try in the corner and Raiders, who travelled with just two subs, were wilting. Jones converted well. 32-12.

Marsh almost got his hat-trick but was pulled into touch as Raiders desperately defended.

But it didn’t last for long. Cougars’ player-coach Dafydd Hellard pushed off four or five Raiders players to score before Lee Goddard strolled over for their eighth try.

And at exactly the same moment Hull Kingston Rovers were dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Oldham Roughyeds, Cougars brought up the 50 with Liam Watton scoring and Jones converting.

Raiders got a try back through Williams who converted himself but Cougars finished strongly with two further tries in the last five minutes. Higgs completed his hat-trick before Wilkes got his second with a clean break going in under the sticks. Jones’ two goals made it nine out of 11 kicks for him and an emphatic win was complete. Cue the loud celebrations from the Valleys.

Final score in the other game today was Coventry Bears Reserves 68 Torfaen Tigers 10. Torfaen quickly went into a 10-0 lead with former Cougar Danyl Davies scoring and converting himself before Liam Silver got the second.

However after Torfaen lost two players to injury in the first half, it was an uphill battle and the semi-pro reserve side dominated the rest of the encounter.