England Classics 40 Wales Classics 29

By Zippy
February 7 2005

A review of the action from Friday nights special game between the Wales and England Classic sides at the Brewery Field in Bridgend, an entertaining game of rugby and those who went would have had a lot of fun.

Neil Jenkins started the game in a pair of tracksuit bottoms, it was his only contribution to the game and he went off straight after to a huge ovation!!!

The 1st try was a great handling movement finished off by Justin Thomas banishing his memories of Jeremy Guscott in his last appearance against England! The Wales fly half Dacey then attempted to drop kick the conversion from the touchline and missed by miles, how times have changed.

Lots of Bridgend legends turned out for the game including Glenn Webb, he must be ~45 years of age by now and he was in cracking shape, amused the crowd with his 1930s comedy long john shorts and got the biggest cheer of the night when he went over for a try.

England won the game 40-29 and some of the handling skills these players showed put the younger full time pros to shame, Jason Leonard and Mike Teague rolled back the years and although they are several pounds on the plus side the England and Lions legends were much appreciated by the crowd. 

Here are some photos of the night courtesy of Alun Wylde (WPFiB):

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[img]http://image30.webshots.com/31/9/50/9/266595009ZRvHbh_ph.jpg[/img]

[img]http://image30.webshots.com/30/9/47/55/266594755DepWrM_ph.jpg[/img]

~30,000 was raised for the Tsunami appeal so all in all a good effort, I saw quite a few England shirts so it was nice to see word had got out about the game although it would have been nice if it had been better marketed.

A crowd estimated at ~3,000 watched the game and most were allowed to stand on the terrace for the first time all season.

Announcer kept ramming the point home about how nice it was to see top class rugby back at the BF. He even gave man of the match to David Moffett on behalf of the Bridgend & Ponty fans!

The U11s kids played before the game and I saw a young Ponty side defeat Mid Wales and a Bridgend side defeat Maesteg, Ive no idea who won the final, can anyone help me out here?

The teams that played in the game were along the lines of:

Classic Wales: M Rayer; G Webbe, P Morgan, N Boobyer, D Manley; M Dacey, A Moore; J Pugh, G Jenkins, N Meek, T Copsey, D Jones, E Lewis, M Morris, R Phillips (capt). Replacements: J Thomas, D Williams, R Bidgood, D Evans, P John, G Pearce, J Griffiths, D McIntosh, L Gerrard, S Martin, C Evans.

Classic England: J Liley; M Harrison, S Irving, N Heslop, A Metcalfe; D Scully, C O'Toole; J Leonard, K Dunn, A Deacon, P Stewart, S Foale, M Teague, P Winterbottom, B Clarke. Replacements: M Roberts, M Preedy, T Garnett, J Phillips, P Alston, J Mulraney.

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