Campaign Sport
Keys worked hard - Cross Keys 36 Rumney 18
12:20pm Monday 20th February 2012
A HARD-EARNED win in difficult conditions leaves Cross Keys still chasing three titles this season, but a resolute Rumney performance ensured that the result of this Swalec Cup third-round tie remained in doubt into the closing minutes.
It was the home side that opened the scoring with a third- minute penalty from the boot of outside-half Dean Gunter, but points remained difficult to come by throughout the first half as both sides struggled with a wet ball and sodden pitch.
Wing Kristian Baller celebrated his 24th birthday in style as he crossed for a try after 16 minutes, Gunter adding the extra points.
A drop goal for Rumney captain Danny Clark was matched by another Gunter penalty, and with the visitors’ best try-scoring opportunity ending with a forward pass just metres out, Keys went in at half-time with a 10-point advantage.
Rumney came out looking a stronger side after the interval and narrowed the gap with a Clark penalty, but a quickly taken drop-out proved their downfall as Keys ran it straight back for Marcus Johnstone to claim a try.
Five minutes later it was the turn of the forwards as hooker Gerwyn Price crossed the whitewash and the Premiership side looked to finally be taking control of the game.
Rumney had other ideas, however, and a Clark penalty was followed with two tries in quick succession for wing Gareth Stoppani and centre Dafydd Evans and the gap was down to seven points.
Cross Keys’ man of the match was outside-half Dean Gunter and it was left to him to effectively settle matters with two further penalties, while a last-minute try for Steffan Jones, playing at full back, ended any lingering hopes Rumney had of springing a surprise.
After the game Cross Keys’ head coach Greg Woods highlighted the number of handling errors as a major weakness, but concluded: “We gave them the respect they deserved and ground out a cup win.”
His Rumney counterpart, Matt Silva, the former Newport full-back,said: “They seemed a little bit more organised than us. We didn’t have much composure, whereas they did.”
Cross Keys: S Jones, K Baller, L Andrews, P Williams (N Williams 57), M Johnstone, D Gunter, O Jones (R Dyer 47), R Cornock (I George 69), G Price (J Sollis 59), C Gould (M Jones 47), D Hodge, T Lampard, L Rawlins, R Nash (captain), R Peebles.
Tries: K Baller (16), M Johnstone (52), G Price (57), S Jones (79); cons: D Gunter (16, 57); ppens: D Gunter (3, 30, 68, 74).
Rumney: J Offside, G Stoppani, L Fear, D Evans, L Plummer (A Boden 75), D Clark (Capt), C Milton (J Allen 57), J Leadbeater (D Holliday 64), C O’Donohue (L Andrews 57), D Fenton, J Mills, M Neale (P Bull 40), S Barry, M Way, A Wilson.
Tries: G Stoppani (59), D Evans (66); con: D Clark (66); pen: D Clark (42); DG: D Clark (24).