Preparations Hampered - 01/03/2010

LLANHARAN YOUTH 15 PONTYCLUN YOUTH 32
Llanharan did not have the best of preparation going into this friendly with premier club Pontyclun.
Their back division was severely depleted by withdrawals and unavailability, star man Harley Thomson a typical example, a Welsh trial an indication of his worth to the side.
And to compound matters further, another powerful performer, Fred White, pulled up injured in the warm up.
Even so the young replacement backs tried hard and learned a lot from the experience whilst the pack again gave nothing away against the visiting eight.
Coach Jeff Pick paid tribute to them, noting that it augured well that only Sam Llewellyn and Zach O’Driscoll would be moving up to seniors next year.
Llanharan actually took the lead, drives by Rhys Haines, Sam Pick, and Scott Malone creating the position from which scrum half Ross Pritchard found space on the narrow side for a corner try that sixteen year old number ten Chris Jones converted superbly.
Pontyclun drew level with a try of their own before Jones again pushed his side in front with a penalty.
But Pontyclun had an outstanding set of backs and demonstrated fine handling skills as they twice ran the ball back at the Dairymen in the minutes before half time for 22-10 lead at the turn around.
With Josh Jones forced off back row man Scott Malone moved into the centre and showed impressive ability in the middle of the field.
And there seemed hope for the team as Sam Llewellyn scored his first try for the youth going over from a lineout.
With the pack strong, a sound kicking game, and Reegan Rees making runs, Llanharan looked as though they might cause an upset.
However, once more it was Pontyclun who struck with deadly effect from turn over ball and with kicks it was victory to the Badgers.
However, as Jeff Pick said, the young team could only benefit from taking on premiership opposition, but he did lament the fact that on the three such fixtures this season he had been denied anything like a full strength squad and, lacking depth in numbers for some positions, it had limited the team’s effectiveness.

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