Fixture

Stars entertained New Tredegar in a vital SWALEC league game. One point separated the teams and the last 2 games were close affairs that New Tredegar narrowly won. This was also a very important game for captain Matty Dix as this was his 350th game for the Stars and the players were keen to put in a good performance for him and they did not disappoint.

The weather conditions changed dramatically 10 minutes before kick off and players of both teams together with the referee, who controlled the game well, must be praised for playing in such atrocious conditions.

New Tredegar played down hill against the wind in the first half and despite the Stars being dominant for the first 20 minutes it was New Tredegar who scored first from a penalty that was well converted against the wind. The Stars pack seemed to handle the conditions better then New Tredegar and had the lions share of the line outs together with a solid platform at scrum time. From a maul the Stars backs passed the ball to wing Jamie Cooke who went on a great run that was ended 20 meters from the try line. From the resulting scrum the ball was picked up by Gavin McDonnell and from this maul Ross Martin broke to run 10 meters unopposed to score a well worked try. Dan Evans kicked the difficult conversation to make the score 7-3 at half time with the Stars looking forward to playing down hill in the second half

The Stars continued where they left off and from a maul 10 meters from the New Tredegar try line scrum halve Calum Williams made a short pass to hooker Matty Davies who powered over the line; with the help of his good friend captain Matty Dix he took out 2 New Tredegar forwards on the way to the try line. The conversion was again converted by Dan Evans making the score 14-3 to the Stars.

To be fair New Tredegar did not give up and showed a lot of commitment in the last 20 minutes of the game. This commitment was rewarded with a unconverted try making the score 14-8. The Stars then became very nervous but outside half Dan Evans calmed the team down by kicking a cheeky drop goal to increase the lead to 17-8. About 5 minutes before full time the Stars gave away a disappointing penalty due to indiscipline which was converted to make the score 17-11. The Stars managed to hang for a well deserved victory and New Tredegar also went away with a well deserved bonus point.

This was a very pleasing result with the players again showing a lot of passion and commitment. The forwards were again outstanding and the backs defended courageously in difficult conditions with outside half Dan Evans using the correct tactics to keep his forwards going forward together with scoring 7 points. His quick thinking led to the drop goal which eased the pressure at a difficult time in the game. The back five forwards made a number of long carries, captain Matty Dix and Marc Williams were strong in the tight and Ross Martin was his usual consistent self both in attack and defense. The front row worked very hard throughout the game and Richard Jenkins continued the good work when he replaced Marc Bolton at tight head prop. Hooker Matty Davies was man of the match, he put a huge shift in; he hit his jumpers at every single line out, worked hard in the loose, defended bravely in the tight, solid in the scrum and to cap it off scored a magnificent try.

In the club after the game the players, supporters and committee celebrated captain Matty Dix 350th game for the club. Matty is well respected person by young and old and the club are honored to have had the services of such an outstanding player.

The Stars next game is a local derby away against Oakdale next Saturday 2nd April.  

Stars together stronger