Ebbw Vale 9 Glamorgan Wanderers 13

An extremely disappointing afternoon of rugby at a dreary Eugene Cross Park last Saturday saw a well drilled, but limited, Glamorgan Wanderers side deservedly grind out a 13-9 win at Ebbw Vale.

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The Steelmen can have few complaints. Wanderers scored the only try of the game whilst Ebbw rarely threatened from close to the visitors' line.
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I'm not quite sure what the problem was with Ebbw. The side is very young granted, a back row aged 18, 19 and 20. But the side did appear to lack leadership up front, maybe there are too many youngsters.
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Also, players who don't normally make mistakes like Kris Owen and Andrew McLaughlin behind the scrum seemed to reflect the lack of confidence and energy in the team.
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Winter is with us, and Ebbw cannot afford to lose the forward battles in the cold and wet months. Our scrum and lineout were second best last Saturday and Lyn Jones will need to work on that, especially with high flying Llanelli and the ever competitive Aberavon next up at ECP.
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Alas, the Llanelli game will be the 1st one I miss this year (home or away) as work takes me over the border for 2 days next week. To be honest, after last weekend's error strewn snoozefest, I feel less sorry about it.
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Edit (28/11/08) Pictures at last