Torfaen Tigers and Ironmen U17 both win

U17 – SOUTH WALES IRONMEN 42 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND EAGLES 30

By Ian Golden at The Wern

South Wales Ironmen’s under 17 side staged a remarkable second half comeback to beat Republic of Ireland Eagles 42-30 at The Wern, in a match played before Ironmen’s first team took on Toronto Wolfpack.

Played in torrential rain throughout, the Irish were 20-0 up on 25 minutes and 24-6 up at half-time, before the Welsh scored 36 points in as many minutes in the second half.

James Mulvaney went over near to the sticks on three minutes to give Ireland the lead, the try converted by Josh McNamer.

Ireland skipper Nathan Kieran followed that up with a try in the corner which went unconverted to give them a 10-0 lead after just seven minutes.

They scored their third on 20 minutes when Aaron Kelly scored in the same position. Again the kick was missed, leaving the score on 14-0.

Mulvaney got the next try for the Irish, converted by McNamer before the Welsh finally hit back through a Karlin Claridge try converted by James Bartlett.

Keiran scored the fifth Irish try of the game from dummy half. The conversion was again missed but they went into half-time with a healthy 24-6 lead.

Taine Hendy ran through for the opening try of the second half to put Ironmen back in the game, Bartlett converting.

Claridge followed that up with his second of the match, Bartlett keeping up his 100% kicking record, and the Welsh were just a converted try behind.

Bartlett scored the next Ironmen try but failed with the conversion for the first time, giving the Eagles a slender two-point lead.

That was before Bartlett stormed through to give Ironmen the lead, an hour into the encounter, converting his own try.

He notched his hat-trick on 66 minutes, unconverted, to give Ironmen a 32-24 lead.

Max Roberts was next over with Bartlett converting, bringing the score up to 38-24.

Jack Perry scored in the corner to make it 42-24 but the Eagles had the last say with Calum O’Neil scoring on the hooter with Kieran converting.

IRONMEN: 16. Jamal Abdilhi, 9. Keiran Thomas, 17. James Bartlett, 8. Jordan Ellis, 6. Jack Perry, 15. Karlin Claridge, 11. Matthew Morgan, 4. Derryn Hewings, 22. Jack Powell, 13. Henry Hibbs, 21, Owain Harvey, 2. Ryan Morgan, 12. Max Roberts. Subs: 18. Taine Hendy, 1. Jac Morris, 20. Terry Court, 7. Evan Wall, 5. Brandon Aviet.

EAGLES: 1. Josh McNamer, 2. Aaron Kelly, 3. Ethan Voss, 4. Kevin Vara, 5. Eion Treaby, 6. Sam Cullen, 7. Calum O’Neil, 8. Sean O’Sullivan, 9. Nathan Kieran, 10. Rona McLeod, 11. James Mulvaney, 12. Ryan McGlynn, 13. Shalon Laver. 14. Daniel McIntyre, 15. Jordan Talper, 16, Eion Ryan, 17, Elgan Williams

PREMIER LEAGUE

RHONDDA OUTLAWS 34 TORFAEN TIGERS 42

Rhondda Outlaws were the closest they been so far to their first ever win at open-age level, after losing 32-24 to Torfaen Tigers.

Two tries from Geoff Hick with Fraser Stroud converting the first, gave Torfaen an early 10-0 lead.

But Outlaws didn’t collapse. In fact, they took a 18-10 lead after tries from Mike Herbert, Kevin James and Nye Walker all converted by Max Henry.

This time it was Torfaen’s turn to fight back. Jon Daniels and Euaun Morris both scored converted tries, Stroud successful with the boot, and they were then 22-18 up.

Rhondda replied with a Cory Phillips try converted by Henry before a unconverted Dave Brunnock score gave Torfaen a 26-24 lead.

Evan Wynne’s try extended it to 30-24 before a Morgan Knight brace, both converted by Stroud, put the game out of Rhondda’s reach.

However the home side still refused to give up. Sion Griff and Walker scored late tries, the latter converted by Kevin James to give the final score a respectable look.