Ebbw Vale 38 Llandovery 29, Super Rygbi Cymru, 28/09/2024

Ebbw Vale secured a superb bonus-point victory over last year's Premiership Champions, Llandovery, in what was the Steelmen's best display of the season to date.

The home side got off to a flyer, clearly rattled by the previous week's defeat at Cardiff. Following an early Drovers penalty, a Vale scrum led to a neat first phase move where Evan Lloyd passed Ethan Phillips into space who broke through the line to cross unhindered, Lloyd converted.

A missed midfield pass by the visitors led to a speedy kick and chase from Ewan Bowden, who skilfully managed the gather to cross near the posts, Lloyd added more extras.

Of course, a side as talented as Llandovery was always going to hit back and they did; an unconverted try from Aaron Warren, and a seven pointer from Taylor Davies where Jack Maynard added the 2 points to go with his earlier success.

The half finished with Ebbw back on top. Rolling maul pressure sucked in defenders and so scrum half Jonathan Evans put the back line on alert and some smart handling saw Bowden add a second. Lloyd converted to make it 22-15 at the interval.

After the restart, Lloyd was able to extend Ebbw's lead with two penalties and were always threatening. A quick tap and go from Evans saw him beat the retreating defence and cross for the bonus point try. Lloyd once again converting.

The Drovers were not done and looked to have secured a losing point with two converted tries in quick succession from Evan Sheldon and Lee Rees to make it 35-29.

The match ended with the home side on top once again and were unlucky not to score a fifth try, but had to settle for another successful Lloyd attempt, adding a further 3 points to make the final score 38-29, with five points for the Steelmen.

Ebbw Vale 34 Aberavon 22, Super Rygbi Cymru, 14/09/2024

Bright September sunshine greeted the brave new world of Welsh semi-professional rugby as Super Cymru Rygbi got under way with this clash between two clubs with proud steel-making traditions.

It was very much a clash of the Ebbw Vale power game against a faster, offloading game from the Wizards of Aberavon.

Ebbw started slowly and quickly found themselves under pressure yielding an early 8-0 deficit. Soon, the home side got its act together, with the classic rolling maul steered over the try line by captain Joe Franchi.

With further attacks, Ebbw were starting to gain the upper hand; powerful centre Ethan Phillips crossed and Evan Lloyd added the extras to make it 12-8. Following scrum pressure, Lloyd added a further 3 points to give the Steelmen of Gwent a 15-8 half time lead.

With 'Avon still down to 14 men at the start of the second half, Ebbw took advantage with Ewan McIntyre adding a third try, converted by Lloyd. The bonus point score followed shortly afterwards with slick back play allowing wing Ryan Gardner to score the home side's 4th try.

At 27-8 the game appeared over, but Ebbw Vale weren't going to have it all their own way though. The spirited Wizards added two quick scores, to give the jitters to the bank faithful. Thankfully, more great handling led to a score from scrum half Jonathan Evans, converted by Lloyd to round off a successful afternoon for Ebbw Vale.

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Glamorgan v Leicestershire, Day 1, County Championship Division 2, Cardiff, 29/08/2024

Glamorgan ended up on top by the end of Day 1 of their Championship encounter with Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens, thanks to a competitive bowling display and a late in the day partnership from Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson.

The home side won the toss and elected to bowl on a slightly overcast Thursday morning but in conditions which were perfect for spectating. This decision is now normal at Cardiff; anything that's in the serface will there when the pitch is new, before it flattens out on Days 3 and 4.

Early inroads were made reducing Leicestershire to 182/8 before recovering somewhat to 251 all out. The ever-reliable Timm van der Gugten was the star with 4 wickets for 45 runs, with good support from Dan Douthwaite 4/49 and debutant New Zealander Fraser Sheat 2/71.

Glamorgan's reply started ominously with both makeshift openers back in the pavilion, Sam Northeast for a first-ball 0 and Asa Tribe for 4. 

Thankfully, the 'King'ram, as in Colin*, and Carlson steadied the ship with some beautiful strokemaking in the late summer sunshine adding 87 unbeaten runs before the close of play with Glamorgan handily placed on 114/2.

(*Ingram batted into Day 3 compiling a career-best 257 not out.)

Rehan Ahmed caught on the boundary by Billy Root

The cricinfo report is here and the scorecard is here

Glamorgan v Warwickshire, One-Day Cup Semi-final, Cardiff, 18/08/2024

It was a scene reminicent of better days for domestic one-day cricket as Glamorgan secured a place in the Metro Bank Cup final in front of a healthy crowd of over 3,000.

With longer-form 50 over cricket reduced to cinderella status these days, it was good to see plenty of interest from the Glamorgan faithful, proving yet again that there's more to cricket that T20 and 100-ball thrashes. Glamorgan earned its place at home in the semi-final through topping the group, whilst Warwickshhire overcame Worcestershire in their quater final.

After being inserted, the home side were soon in trouble at 90/5 with dangermen Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram back in the pavilion. Thankfully, Billy Root once agin steadied the ship with 46, and then there was some explosive late hitting from Dan Douthwaite (55 not out) and Timm van der Gugten (26), giving Glamorgan a competitive total of 247 for the loss of nine wickets.

In reply, the Bears were soon in trouble at 62/6, before some resistance for the seventh wicket with a stand of 87 by Michael Burgess and Jake Lintott. Michael Booth, with 35, gave the visitors some hope and a late scare for home fans, but when Booth skied Andy Gorvin to Douthwaite, it was all over and the Glammy family could prepare for its second 50-over final in three years.

The cricinfo report is here and scorecard here

Glamorgan v Yorkshire, One-Day Cup, Cardiff, 14/08/2024

A healthy crowd of over 1,500 came down to Sophia Gardens for Glamorgan's important 50-over match versus Yorkshire, in that a home vistory would all but assure a semi-final at the same venue on the following Sunday.

After a drizzly start, the visitors unsurprisingly inserted Glamorgan and quickly made inroads, leaving the Daffodil county struggling at 40/3 and 143/7 but some spirited resistance from Billy Root with 66 and 34 not out from Timm van der Gugten rallied the home side to 230/9 from the reduced 47 overs.

In reply, Yorkshire were quickly reeling at 11/3, but rebuilt mainly through Johnny Tattersall with 51. Glamorgan were able to squeeze in the middle overs with some excellent bowling and energetic fielding. Andy Gorvin took 4/35 and ambidextrous spinner Ben Kellaway 3/33.

Match details are available on cricinfo here, as Glamorgan secured a home semi-final versus Warwickshire on Sunday 18th August.