Division 5 South East Bowl Round 2
New Panteg RFC 20
Machen RFC 17
NEW Panteg moved up two places to fourth in the league with a hard fought victory against a talented Machen outfit.
The hosts were 10-0 down in as many minutes and had to play catch up rugby. Jago Mapp started the fight back with a well struck penalty before centre Lloyd Jackson outpaced the covering defence to score in the corner.
Mapp struck a superb conversion to level the scores before Machen, like many teams before them, opted for passive scrums on 20 minutes to negate Panteg’s forward power.
Even without the advantage of a dominant scrum New Panteg enjoyed plentiful possession with boiler-house pairing of Mark Parry and skipper Chris Barnes to the fore.
Mapp cut a clinical line to score under the post and easily added the extras himself to give New Panteg the lead before the visitors levelled with a run from their inside centre. With time running out New Panteg pressed for a winning score and were rewarded when a foul at the breakdown resulted in a penalty.
Full back Chris Small deputising for the injured Mapp, stepped up and casually slotted the kick to give Panteg a deserved lead. The hosts then calmly and efficiently played out the final few minutes for a victory which puts New Panteg in with a chance of pushing for a second consecutive promotion.
On what was a very good day for New Panteg the youth team defeated Abergavenny to stay top of the league.
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