Firstly we have to say what a wonderful welcome and hospitality we received at the Memorial Field the home of Glamorgan Wanderers.
A club where legends have walked the corridors and probably still do so to this very day. The most notable of these legends being Sir Tasker Watkins VC Victoria Cr, Gbe, DL, and Welsh Lord Justice of appeal. He was the President of the WRU from 1993 until 2004.
During the Second World War, he was awarded the Victoria Cross – the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy. A legend who achieved things in life that very few of us will ever understand.
As if that wasn’t enough a certain Sam Warburton, the one who captained the British and  Irish Lions played a number of his formative years with the Wanderers.
In a keenly contested first half, the Mob started poorly by kicking the ball dead which ended up with a scrum back. The Wanderers were not intimidated by the Mob and climbed into the Maroon and Gold at every opportunity and rightly so. The Mob regathered their composure and found themselves in the Wanderer’s gold zone with fly half Will Partington carrying the ball into contact and managed to wriggle free and score to the right of the posts. He converted his own try –Â 0 V 7 after only minutes.
The first score got an immediate reaction from the Wanderers and they camped in the Mob gold zone but couldn’t manage to get over. After sustaining long periods of pressure the Maroon and Gold broke out, and after a Penalty kicked to the corner Harry Jarvis took a ride on the back of a driving maul to get over. Another conversion by Partington gave the Mob 0 v 14 lead but maybe against the run of play.
Glamorgan came straight back and after a sustained period of pressure brought the scores to Wanderers 5 Mob 14 after 30 minutes. There was literally nothing between the two sides after 30 minutes of play.
After dealing with everything the Wanderers could throw at them the Mob were awarded another penalty which was once more kicked to the corner, and this tie hooker Matt Gallagher attached to the driving maul and Ampthill turned round with a rather flattering scoreline of 5 v 21 at half time.
The second half kicked off with multiple changes to the Mob XV albeit not the number the coaches had envisaged due to the close nature of the contest.
The Maroon and Gold started well, after multiple phases first team fly-half Tom Hardwick threw a dummy and ghosted through under the posts, converted by himself, and the Mob extended their lead to 5 v 28.
The Wanderers came back once more, but the Mob managed to get over again after another catch and drive with Llewelyn Jones touching down, converted by Hardwick 5 V 35.
With multiple changes on both sides, the Mob concluded with a try from Man of the Match Paddy Ryan, converted by Tom Hardwick to leave the final score 5 V 42.
Head Coach Paul Turner said “It’s been a really valuable exercise with some of our young players and trialists beginning to understand their responsibilities when they represent the Maroon and Gold. This was in a highly competitive fixture against a good Principality Championship side Glamorgan Wanderers.
We have a really important week ahead before we go to the StoneX next Saturday to play Saracens in our final pre-season game.”
