Cardiff

[marshomano]

Ebbw Vale team:

Dan Haymond, Srdan Majkic, Dom Franchi, Dai Langdon, Toby Fricker; Lewis Dennet, Carl Lewis; Joel Harries, Joe Franchi, Rob Sevenoaks; Kristian Parker, Lance Randall; Ronny Kynes (capt), Owen Jones, Cameron Regan.

Bench: Rhys Francis, Ross Jones, Josh James, Rhys Clarke, Dai Jones, Callum Hall, Garyn Payne.

[Malpas69]

Can we really only muster seven replacements?

[viewfromthestand]

Apparently Chunky is added to the bench. Which will mean we are carrying two hookers on the bench. I would imagine Franco is covering the back row as well. Who knows. I can t make tomorrow but will be watching eagerly on twitter. I m hoping for everything to click and come away with a victory.

[Malpas69]

Great to see Chunky back, but where are the rest of our second/back row cover? Three hookers in the match day squad of 23... really?

I see James Lewis on the bench for Pontypridd (again) and Gavin Bilton playing for N*****t tomorrow. What the hell is going on?

[david brown]

Spoke to young JACAS at the NEWPORT game ,and he said he was a couple of weeks away from selection.Was very concerned about todays match ,the i saw the team .Backs who cannot tackle ,two second rows who are unable to collect simple drop outs and are never seen carrying the ball in play ,and not one forward capable of breaking the gain line? Then we lend out players to other teams leaving us very thin for cover .Why should i concern myself ,if we lose by 50 points we are trying out different permutions for the future.The way we are heading ,our future is looking pretty bloody bleak.

[david brown]

Spoke to young JACAS at the NEWPORT game ,and he said he was a couple of weeks away from selection.Was very concerned about todays match ,the i saw the team .Backs who cannot tackle ,two second rows who are unable to collect simple drop outs and are never seen carrying the ball in play ,and not one forward capable of breaking the gain line? Then we lend out players to other teams leaving us very thin for cover .Why should i concern myself ,if we lose 50 points we are trying out different permutations for the future.The way we are heading ,our future is looking pretty bloody bleak.

[Phillip Grey]

It is a huge worry at the moment, really hope I'm made to eat my words this afternoon but I can't see where a win is going to come from.

Looking at various selections, Brynmawr have a stronger starting team than us at present.

[david brown]

Keep it up lads ,10 minutes to go Really will enjoy eating my humble pie.

[Phillip Grey]

Words humbley eaten, well done Ebbw Vale

Couldn't go today but look forward to reading the reports on the victory.

Delighted to have been proven wrong, now let's build and get the season back on track.

[String]

Well that was unexpected. We found some pace in the backs from somewhere. Relatively comfortable all game for us.

[chris]

A really impressive win yesterday - one I like many others didn't see coming.

I thought we really controlled the game and scored some lovely tries. The pack were once again excellent which really gave us the platform to build from. Can't single out individuals, as it was a great team performance.

Well done Ebbw!

[JohnCoffey]

A much better performance all round & one nobody saw coming.

In fairness the forwards, which have benefitted from a consistent selection, have been pretty good in each game so far this season – the scrums have been dominant (apart from a couple here & there) and were a great platform again yesterday. We were very aggressive at the contact area, carried well & two of our tries came from turnovers. Our weakness so far has been the line out but apart from only maybe 1 or 2 they were excellent yesterday.

There was real improvement behind and we have 2 big strong wingers in Fricker & Srdan, who looks much more comfortable there.

It may be a bit picky after such a good win against a previously unbeaten Cardiff, but our defence was still a bit brittle at times and it was another game where we seemed to work hard for our tries and then coughed up 3 for them fairly easily. We don’t actually create many opportunities, though we don’t waste any that come our way either - we only had 3 opportunities in the entire game and took them all outstandingly well

[html junkie]

Great response by the squad yesterday. Drift defence was excellent, Ronny turned over a lot of Cardiff ball. Cameron was absolutely amazing. Clarky had a real impact when he came on. Backs looked genuinely dangerous and operated at pace. Scrums superb, despite an occasionally clueless referee. Can I ask: what's the point of three officials when they wave on clearcut knock ons (FOR BOTH SIDES)?

I have to say I thought come comments on here last week were disgraceful and I do hope people will think how our young coaches and players might feel, reading that they are clueless, rubbish, no-hopers when, in reality, they are working their socks off to improve.

I'm really looking forward to Merthyr now!

[String]

Agree with the knock ons - didn't seem high on the officials list to call no matter who did them. I guess at least they were consistent about it.

Scrums confused me slightly, at times we looked well on top, getting penalties then 2 mins later a complete reversal. Im not sure the referee really had much of a clue what was going on there. Lineout was "OK", still missed a few but improved.

The main thing was the sudden injection of pace and what a difference it made. Our attack was no longer predictable and easy to manage. Far better direct running and some off the ball movement as well.

I must admit i went there expecting the worst and was very pleasantly surprised by the change around. We won, and deserved that win. You could almost say it was comfortable right through.

[jadegoodiesfridge]

We beat,on paper,the toughest team we've faced all season,in their back yard.Fantastic effort from the boys...........I'm so glad I decided to watch Grimsby lose to Newport county instead.