Fixture

Blackwood Stars traveled to New Tredegar full of revenge to reverse their defeat the last time the two side met a few weeks ago. The sides on that day were evenly matched and todays game was more important as there were vital league points at stake.

It was apparent from the kick off that again there wasn't much between the two sides and it took a while before the first points were scored. This came from a Stars line out and a brilliant quick driving maul taking the Stars forwards over the New Tredegar line with Ross Martin at the bottom of the maul to claim a try for the Stars and take the lead 5 nil. New Tredegar came back at the Stars and scored a try seconds before half time to make the score 5-5. It was a strong first half from both sides.

New Tredegar continued where they left off from the first half. From a chip, over the Stars defense, Nathan Richards held back one of their players which the ref penalized and felt it severe enough to yellow card Nathan for his actions. New Tredegar went for a line out which they won setting up a maul and space on the blind side allowed them to go over for a try to make the score 10-5 to the home side.

Stars reacted well and penetrated New Tredegars try line without success. A try eventually came from Dan Evans who used some trickery to smash over the line and level the score 10-10. Stars continued to put pressure on New Tredegar and from a maul hooker Matthew Davies side stepped one player and then smashed his opposite number for six to put the Stars ahead 15-10. The Stars players thought that this was game over but there was still 20 minutes to be played and New Tredegar sides never give up. This proved to be the case and they started to move the ball to their backs and one occasion they would have scored but Gavin Mcdonnell made a huge tackle to stop a certain try. Stars outside half Nathan Hughes then had to leave the field because of injury; this was unfortunate because he marshalled the Stars back well in defense. Shortly after he left the field New Tredegar scored a converted try. This resulted because of too many missed tackles opening up gaps for the New Tredegar backs. 17-15 to New Tredegar

The Stars continued to attack New Tredegar and from an attacking move on New Tredegars 22 meter line the Stars knocked the ball on and the New Tredegar winger picked up the loose ball and run unopposed to score a try. With the last kick of the day New Tredegar converted the try to rob the Stars of a bonus point.

This was a disappointing day as the Stars definitely deserved something from the game. The forwards again played well and the Stars backs looked good at times; Nathan Hughes and Dan Evans controlled the defense line well. Unfortunately Stars players got isolated in the tackle area too many times resulting in New Tredegar turning over the ball; this was probably the difference between the two sides. Scrum half Adam Perry [Pez] had to clean up bad ball too many times and this needs to be worked on in training before the next match. Pez was awarded man of the match for his courageous play throughout the game.

Stars next game is a local derby at home against Oakdale.