There was much anticipation in the lead up to the pre-season friendly and the Burry Port RFC were able to take away many positives from the game despite the defeat.
On a glorious summers day at the Memorial Park, it was decided to play 3 periods of 30 minutes to accommodate the large Vardre RFC squad.
In the first period Burry Port RFC, with many players still on holiday, were always going to struggle with this format but chose to play an experimental team to give all players an opportunity to shine and the first period was an evenly balanced affair with both sides willing to run the ball from deep and one passage of play lasted 5 minutes (the average is close to 2 minutes).
After a good Burry Port period with Bryn Jenkins and Adam Rudall looking dangerous, Vardre soaked up the pressure, came back into the game and after a good period of possession scored out wide. Burry Port came straight back and went close to a try in the corner themselves but were foiled by a scrambling Vardre defence. The ref blew to end the first period and Burry Port were happy with this start as they opened up the Vardre defence a number of times.
During the second period Vardre were able to make 12 substitutions, whilst Burry Port made 4 from their bench, so it was a case of players backing up from first to second period. This proved to be the difference in a period that was dominated by Vardre who had the fresh legs to run in five good tries. Burry Port looked tired but battled back into the game to keep possession and take the game to the visitors and finished the second period strongly despite not scoring.
Despite a numerical disadvantage, it was Burry Port who had the better of the third period in territory, possession and points. Scrum Half Craig James and Flanker Adam Webb both 18 year olds on debut from the youth team, gave creditable performances and the ball was flowing well with Burry Port stretching the visitors with crisp passing and creating and determined running. Backs, Steve Powell and Ben Williams opened up the defence with a few nice clean breaks, whilst Rhyd Jenkins and Llyr Sims made good ground for the forwards. Burry Port eventually got their try with winger Nathan Toft crossing after good interplay.
Coach Gareth Gravell was not disappointed with the result, given many of the boys were not available and he paid tribute to his team, with many playing the entire 3 periods without a rest. “It was the second period that made a difference but I have to give credit to the Burry Port players who battled back to take control of the third period”. Gareth praised the visitors who came down with a strong squad, “Vardre are a strong team and will do well this season, we struggled to contain them in the second period which was the difference between us on the day.”
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