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West Mon 10 New Panteg 26

West Mon welcomed our near neighbours New Panteg in an eagerly awaited local derby in division 3 East C and as with most derbies it did not disappoint for the 120+ strong crowd

Panteg started the game at a frenetic pace putting West under plenty of pressure and only some huge West hits stopped them crossing the line, with Luke Royal, Robbie Baldock and Daniel ‘Dukey’ Gibbings at the fore.

But the pressure continued and Panteg slotted a early penalty and with West having no platform to work with and seeming at sixes and sevens in defence another one mistake allowed the Panteg flanker to  burst through to score a converted try, quickly followed by another penalty to make it 13 points in 15 minutes.

A big score seemed on the cards but this seemed to wake West up and after some good phases they got into Panteg's 22 before the ball was turned over and their speedy outside centre picked up a pass to run in another converted try.

Again West battled their way into the opposition 22 and this time was rewarded with a Robbie Baldock penalty of their own. The game then had the local derby scuffle with a yellow for each side and another Panteg penalty to make the score at half time 23-3 to Panteg.

Some stern words was said at halftime and the 2^nd half kicked off with both teams attempting to gain the upper hand, but it was West who were now up for the challenge and with Scotty Leonard and Nick Woolfall (normally a loosehead but coming on at tighthead) coming into the front row West now had a platform in place to start utilising their bigger robust backs with Alex Maddocks punching some big dents.

This attacking plan seemed to have the desired effect with Panteg now at sixes and sevens themselves but with the game going back and fore they still managed to slot another penalty.

West really started to exert some pressure and with Panteg trying to run the ball out of defence while under pressure, Morgan Parry intercepted to score his 5^th try of the season, converting himself.

West now had their tails right up and started to build some good phases together in search of a losing bonus point with time running out and with Daniel ‘Dukey’ Gibbings, Connor Witcombe and debutant Pat Daly running and tackling hard, this looked like it could be a possibility.

But credit where its due Panteg showed why they are unbeaten and top of the league and serious title contenders to keep West out.

The slow start by West ultimately cost them getting anything from the game and a lesson learned of what a slow start in this league will do.

Man of the match – Daniel ‘Dukey’ Gibbings

C'mon West/Dewch ymlaen West