Match Report

Over 1,000 people attended Rugby League Grand Finals day in South Wales at a sun-drenched Taff’s Well on Sunday, the culmination of which saw Torfaen Tigers take their first ever senior title, beating Valley Cougars 24-18 in a see-saw match.

It was the fifth final of the day in Wales Rugby League’s biggest ever club finals day event.

The Cougars from Treharris, attacked from the off after Torfaen made a handling error from kick-off and Scott Britain looked to ground in the first minute but dropped the ball while under pressure.

However after being awarded a penalty, the Cougars did take the lead in the second minute when Matthew Powell scored in the corner. Paul Emmanuelli missed the kick.

The second try came on five minutes when Gareth Way brilliantly laid off to Darryl Carter who scored under the sticks. Emmanuelli converted to make the score 10-0.

Torfaen hit back on 16 minutes after Ryan Bates found a gap in the Cougars defence and ran through unchallenged. Mike Davies converted to bring the score back to 10-6.

And four minutes later, man of the match Bates added his and Torfaen’s second to level things up. Davies’ second goal took them into a 12-10 lead.

Cougars regained the advantage five minutes before the interval when Danyl Davies scored in the corner. Emmanuelli’s kick was wide.

Torfaen got back into the lead eight minutes into the second half when Lee Jones scored in the corner, but with the conversion missed, the score was just 16-14 to the Tigers.

But six minutes later, the pendulum swung back in Cougars’ way when Dafydd Hellard grounded, again a try in the corner and again followed by a missed conversion. 18-16 to the men from Treharris.

Cougars’ Danyl Davies was denied a second try thanks to a forward pass, which could have been a hammer blow for Torfaen.

And there was drama at the other end with just three minutes to go when Jordan Peak had a potential winner ruled out for a forward pass.

But Torfaen weren’t to be denied. With the game into added on time, Luke Brown grounded under the sticks and Mike Davies converted before adding a penalty in the last second to seal things.