Fixture

Oakdale Under 8's headed into week three of the season to the home of the Pitmen for a festival of rugby, and boy did they not disappoint in the South Wales sun.  With scenes reminiscent of the Twickenham car park, families arrived with gazebos, picnics and chairs ready for the day ahead minus the tweed and quaffing of champagne often scene at the home of English rugby.

This festival of rugby was to be played between Oakdale, Penallta A and B, Rhymney, Cefn Coed and a Barbarians team (made up of a mixture of the boys from each side as a team were unable to travel) in a round robin format.

Oakdale were first up in this festival of rugby kicking off against a well organised and drilled Penallta 'B' side, the game truly set out the tone of the day with end to end fast paced rugby.

Oakdale were quick out the blocks and stunned the home side with Gethin Tudball showing a great turn of speed and some nifty footwork to cross for the first try.

Penallta responded quickly to equal the score.

Oakdale responded in the best possible way with Ioan Herbert scoring a fantastic solo try to make it  2- 1

Penallta again scored levelling the score at 2-2

Oakdale then scored again through Gethin Tudball to make it 3-2, however the lead did not last long as Penallta struck back to make it 3 a piece.

With the sides exchanging blow for blow Oakdale looked to take control of the game with some nice build up play saw Ruben Williams make it 4-3, this gave them confidence with Oakdale going on the attack again and Ioan Herbert scoring his second and Oakdales 5th.  Oakdale did not take their foot of the gas and continued to pressure Penallta B  and camped in their half  eventually their efforts paid off and Roman Taylor scored to make it 6-3.

However Penallta were not done and rallied themselves to score three unanswered tries to make 6-6.and took control of the match, however Oakdale gathered themselves together and Roman Taylor broke the line and went through to score his second try. 7-6.

The tries did not stop there and Penallta levelled again to make it 7-7.

This was a ding-dong battle and the crowd were overdosing on excitement from the running rugby on display, Oakdale were in control of the ball and some lovely passing saw Ioan Herbert get his hat-trick to make it 8-7.  Oakdale were surely looking at victory with only a few minutes remaining.  However a lack of concentration in the Oakdale defence saw Penallta get over in the corner to make 8-8 and with that saw the final whistle.

What a match to start this mouthwatering festival of rugby.

Match 2 - Oakdale v Rhymney

Next up for Oakdale were familiar opponents Rhymney having played them the previous week, with the taste of defeat still in their mouths, Oakdale were keen to make amens against a very strong and powerful Rhymney side.

Unfortunately Rhymney proved once again to strong for Oakdale who despite playing with a lot of heart lost 4-1, Oakdale's only try came from Gethin Tudball who cut through the Rhymney defence like a hot knife through butter on the stroke of half time.

Match 3 - Oakdale v Penallta A

After a bit of a break and the boys taking on some well needed fuel they were looking to get their festival back on track against Penallta, however the boys must have eaten too many ham sandwiches and started the match slowly going one try down.  However the extra crabs soon kicked in and Ioan Herbert skipped his way through and went over in the left hand corner to make it 1-1.

Gethin Tudball made it three matches in a row and scored in the right hand corner after some dazzling foot work hypnotised the Penallta defence.

Unfortunately the carbs wore off and in now the blazing midday heat the energy was soon sapping away from Oakdale and saw them slump to a 4-2 loss.

Match 4 - Oakdale v Cefn Coed

Next up was Cefn Coed who despite only travelling with three players were helped out by other sides in order to give their players a game, despite this they stunned the Oakdale team to go one try up and lead after the first half.

However, as the old cliche goes it was a game of two halves and Oakdale woke up from their afternoon siesta and Oakdale worked the flanks and got the ball out wide to Tyler Symmons  who popped up on the wing to level the match.

This sprung Oakdale into life and after a lovely break and offload by Ioan Herbert to Ollie Penny saw him score to make it 2-1.

Oakdale were not done yet and provider became scorer as a now on fire Ioan Herbert side stepped his way to the line after taking a pass from Tyler Symmons.

Oakdale finally got their first victory winning 3-1

Match 5 - Oakdale v Barbarians

Oakdales final match was against the Barbarians and having tasted victory they certainly had an appetite and were looking to sign the day off in style .

And they did not hang around with Joe Lewis making what has become a trade mark break up the line to go over in the corner, deep into the first half he again scored this time in the left hand corner.

The Barbarians fought back and scored three tries to take the lead.

Oakdale despite being tired never gave up and their resilience paid off and yet again Joe Lewis scored to make it 3-3.

This breathed fresh life into Oakdale and they appeared to have second wind with Pacey Jayne finding himself in some rare space with the Barbarians pressuring them in their own half showing great technique carrying the ball in two hands to glide his way through the defence to score, to make it 4-3.

However the barbarians yet again scored to make it 4-4.

Oakdale keen to get the game underway and were using their touches and worked themselves into the Barbarians half and were now only meters from their try line, a fine try saving tackle stopped Oakdale going over. However, Oakdale caught the defence asleep and a blind side pass saw Joe Lewis sneek over in the corner despite the last ditch efforts of the defence saw him get the try from only yards out.

With only seconds remaining the Barbarians had one final attack and Oakdale's defence must have been thinking about Mondays assembly in school as they scored in the corner to make it 5-5 in the last play of the game.

Oakdale 5 - Barbarians 5

Oakdale can be very proud of their efforts with not only playing five matches in very hot weather but also helping out to play for the Barbarians and Cefn Coed, saw them play a number of extra matches.  Despite them being tired they never gave up and played with smiles on their faces.

Oakdale's results saw them with 

1 win

2 draws

2 loses

Well done boys keep it up.