News

After last week's agonisingly close defeat to unbeaten league leaders Fleur, New Panteg travelled to third placed Caerleon buoyed with confidence. The initial starting XV was affected by late injury and illness, but with the sun shining and the pitch in fine fettle, the match promised to be an entertaining affair.

Caerleon dominated the opening exchanges, continually putting width on their game. They ran hard, and hit gaps and offloaded skillfully. During the first period Teg gave away an unprecedented 20 penalties, and were reduced to 13 men through yellow cards. This was expertly exploited by a well drilled home outfit, who cantered over for two converted scores. Caerleon turned around 14 points ahead with the elements now slightly in their favour, and a tough final 40 minutes were anticipated by the Teg.

Bury added an early penalty before the defining moment of the match. Caerleons left winger hit a sumptuous gap and found himself with a free run to the whitewash. With a try an almost certainty, Teg winger Davies showed blistering pace to make up 10 metres on his counterpart, and not only make a tackle on the tryline, but turn him in the process to deny a touchdown. The next play saw Teg throwing caution to the wind, and running from their own tryline. The rejuvenated Davies rounded his man, and fantastic interplay with the supporting Bury at fullback resulted in a 90m score. Bury converted and the home side seemed to capitulate. Bury latched onto a loose pass to sprint 60m to score, injuring himself in the process, but James easily added the extras. Soon afterwards another inaccurate pass was gratefully accepted by speedster Gomez, who ran in unchallenged. James knocked over the simplest of kicks and Teg were flying. Despite pushing hard for a try bonus point, it wasn't to be, but Teg will be delighted with another huge second half improvement and an impressive win on the road.

Back rower Shane Cook put in a superb shift, and his tackle count was monumental, and was deservedly named player of the match.

The coaching team will have concerns over team discipline on occasions, but will be incredibly proud of the commitment and togetherness of the entire squad.