RFC Battle To 3rd Spot

Cardiff RFC
By Andrew Collins
September 17 2006

Cardiff RFC came out on top of a scrappy and rough affair at the Arms Park to lift themselves to 3rd in the league.

The Blue and Blacks continued their good start to the season with a win over a very physical Bridgend outfit, 24-21. The home team came under immense pressure from the aggressive Ravens side, but just about lasted the distance to pick up their second win of the campaign.

Work commitments prevented me from making the game, but as ever, the sites loyal and trusted fans were on hand to help...

Spence (Formerly Hugh dp) Said;

"Today the Blue & Blacks battled their way to victory over the dirtiest Bridgend side I have ever seen. On the whole our performance was good, in fact the forwards were outstanding, but play was constantly interrupted by fights stemming from Bridgend players. You know a sides dirty when even Elgan Jones, always the calmest player on the pitch, gets punches thrown at him. Their forwards were thugs looking for a fight, the backs were no better, and the scrum half was a whining little weasel always delaying the put in at the scrum by trying to persuade the ref that Cardiff were doing something wrong, when in fact the only person in the wrong was him.

Sadly the fans stuck up for there thuggish players, doing there utmost to put poor Craig Evans off when kicking, and at the end one, possibly more fans, tried to pick a fight with some of the Arms Park faithful, and when he was stopped short of that he went off to the tunnel to shout abuse at the CRFC board members and other suits. Towards the end of the game we faltered, gifting them a try they didn't deserve, and there was an uneasy feeling that the game might slip, but that thankfully never happened, and if it had, it would have been a gross injustice. One of the touch judges was a good, proper touch judge, who actually contributed to the refereeing, whether it in our favour or against, at a time when so many just stand there waiting to be paid. I would hope we can have more like him.

As much as I would like to support the boys on their away trips, I don't think I have the stomach to give even a penny of my money to Bridgend, as they don't deserve it, and they truly are a disgrace to Welsh rugby. I wish them every failure in the coming season."

This was a sentiment echoed by many fans who attended the match, but fair play to Bridge fans who made their way to www.theArmsPark.co.uk to have their say;

WPFiB wrote;

"Congrats to Cardiff they were the better side on the day BUT although I will freely admit the best side won on the day both sets of supporters will I think agree the referee was totally inept!!! and the touch judges were no better. As you have pointed out above there were Bridgend examples of "over physicality" This was not one sided however.I certainly noticed an "over enthusiastic" Cardiff No. 6 who seemed to be invisible to the ref. The final straw was when the conversion of our final try sailed clearly between the posts (as some Cardiff fans are saying on Call to arms) but none of the officials would award the points!! Also right in front of us Adam Whitney was the only Ravens player at the breakdown, was clearly on his feet when claiming the ball and the ref blew for a Cardiff penalty and yellow carded a Bridgend player who was nowhere near the action!!!

But congrats to Cardiff as I said they were still the better side on the day but with a better ref we could've snuck it (but wouldn't have deserved it)."

Meanwhile in the stands, the fever on pitch seemed to find its way to the supporters. One Bridgend fan became rather unmanageable to say the least, while other fans were critized for not respecting Craig Evans during his kicking attempts.

WPFiB continued;

"Can I just say that most of the Bridgend fans (myself included) were trying to shut up the one or two idiots making noise during the kicks. A bad habit they have picked up during rugby league!!"

So fair play to him, but also to a guest named Raven, who is affilliated with the Bridgend official supporters trust.

Raven said;

"From the Bridgend Ravens Supporters Club to all at the arms park.

Some of you may be aware there was an incident involving a spectator towards the end of the Cardiff v Bridgend game. Bridgend Ravens Supporters Club wish to make it known that the individual concerned is NOT a member of our supporters club. Nevertheless we wish to offer our whole hearted apology for his behaviour. It was totally unacceptable and left us all extremely embarassed. This kind of incident has no place in rugby. We have requested that our Rugby clubs managment should investigate the incident with our help and take the appropriate steps to make sure it does not happen again. We would also like to thank the couple of Cardiff supporters who tried to help calm the situation.

Once again our profound apologies and good luck for the rest of the season."

So many thanks to our friends at Bridgend, your appologies are accepted and welcomed. Lets hope that one idiot won't stop fans travelling up for the return fixture.

Cheers to all who posted, and can i encourage all fans from both sets of sides to come to theArmsPark.co.uk's messageboard and make their voices heard. With work so regular these days, I need all your help with news and updates, so lets promote the site to freinds, family and fans you know of, and get the site really bhuzzing with opinion.

As theArmsPark.co.uk's cheesy slogan goes - 'Make the noise, and you will be heard!"