A seasoned performance from stalwarts Donaldson, Mitchell and Walsh accompanied by sporadic moments of genius from Horsley meant that Rovers were able to withstand extended periods of pressure from the BigCity forward line.

In fact it was Rovers who took the lead as early as the third minute with a deft header from Rev Mullins. Having won a corner after a penetrating run to the byline by Lucas, the corner was whipped in to the near post by Horsley. A simple flick on by Mullin was easy meat to the Reverend who alone at the back post had simply to place the ball into the roof of the BigCity net.

Shaken by the early setback, Thursday set about Rovers with verve, making a number of forays into the Tunaville penalty area without success. At times, Dave Slaughter in the Rovers goal seemed under a barrage of attack, grateful for intervention on the line by both of his fullbacks on more than one occasion.

The equalizer just before half-time was inevitable and it was a defensive error by the usually solid captain, Donaldson that led to the goal. Seemingly unaware that the big BigCity centre half was behind him. Donaldson under hit a back pass which was immediately seized on and dispatched into the Rovers goal.

The second half and subsequent extra time produced stalemate with neither side wishing to give up any ground and it was with a sigh of relief from the capacity 28,000 home crowd when the referee blew for penalties.

With the first six penalties resulting in six shared goals, it was down to Rovers goalkeeper Slaughter to make the breakthrough. Adopting his customary glare in order to psyche out the opposition, Slaughter dived to his left and correctly anticipated a weak shot from BigCity's left back.

McKinney made light work of his spot kick to make the score four-three and then Slaughter repeated his effort against a mediocre shot from Thursday's captain securing the tie for Rovers.

As the players rushed from the centre circle to carry their hero aloft, the celebrations began. Rovers have never been this far in the cup competition before and you can be assured that the entire community will be glued to their transistor radios this Monday lunchtime to learn who they must face in the semi's.

HORSLEY THE HERO AS OLD TUNAVILLIANS WIN A THRILLER

Bigtown Welsh 48 - O.T.R.F.C. 49

Bigtown took an early 6-0 lead with converted penalties, after the Tunaville pack were caught going over the top both times. Ill discipline by the pack gave the Welsh two more penalties, but fortunately for the away team, both efforts drifted left of the uprights in an increasingly swirling wind. This seemed to give the Tunaville pack the drive they needed, and it wasn't long before they helped put the first points on the board.

A 20 yard drive by the hooker Walsh had the Welsh on the back foot in their own twenty-two, and great support work by the forwards ensured quick, tidy ball for Dodd. Fast hands by centres Horsley and Mitchell created the overlap and Aslett was on hand for the simplest of tries into the corner. Donaldson's attempt at the extra two points drifted slightly wide.

The game was evenly poised going into half-time with four penalties each giving the Welsh an 18-17 lead. What followed in the second half had the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats.

Sloppy defending by Tunaville gifted the Welsh two early converted tries to extend their lead to 32-17, and the visiting team were being stretched in every department.

It took a moment of shear individual brilliance by Horsley to get Tunaville back in to the match. Taking the ball from behind his own goal line after a crucial line-out win by the Rev. Mullins, Horsley decided to take the risk of running the ball out of defence. Spotting a small gap in the Welsh back line, Horsley shot out of defence like a man possessed. By the time the Welsh knew what was going on, Horsley was rapidly approaching the half way line with only the fullback to beat. A deft kick through and a one handed pick-up saw Horsley in the clear, and with his characteristic high dive over the line, the seven points were ensured.

A further two penalties by the increasingly reliable Donaldson reduced the deficit to two points, and the crowd could sense a thrilling last ten minutes.

Once again it was the Welsh who took the initiative. An attempted kick to touch by Donaldson was charged down by the opposing wing forward and a kind bounce meant he had the easiest of chances between the posts.

The lead was stretched to twelve when Airey caught the Welsh fly-half with a dangerously high tackle. The referee was in no doubt about sin binning the offending Airey, and although exclamations of 'I don't believe it!' could be heard around the ground, Tunaville had to play the remaining eight minutes without their talented flanker.

Still Tunaville were keen to play fluent passing rugby, and with great handling and fast second phase ball, a try wasn't long in coming.

Mitchell, spotting a gap behind the Welsh defence, drop kicked a beautiful pass into the corner. Treece, having the better of this opposing number all afternoon, plucked the ball from the air and grounded a very well rehearsed move. Although Donaldson missed the resultant conversion, Tunaville were back in the match at 42-35.

Straight from the kick-off, the Welsh were awarded another penalty for off-side against fullback Walker, and the game appeared all but lost when another penalty was slotted between the posts after Horsley had spoken out of turn to the referee. With only two minutes left, the Welsh held a seemingly unassailable lead of 48-35.

Tunaville were straight back on the attack, and a great back row move between Slaughter and Tinker saw the ball carried to within five metres of the opposing line. The resulting ruck led to Dodd taking a well presented ball, and spotting his opposite number out of position, darted through the gap on the blind side, managing to extend his short frame over the line. Donaldson, cool and collected as ever, made no mistake with the kick and suddenly Tunaville were a try away with injury time approaching.

Mullin won the ball from the restart and the pack drove low to advance the ball back into the Welsh half. Dodd then took the unusual decision of launching a massive 'Garyowen' towards the Welsh twenty-two, which seemed to stay in the air for an eternity. Chasing hard to put his forwards back on-side, Dodd did enough to force the full-back into a mistake. Bouncing out of his hands, the ball went to ground and it was the Tunaville pack that were the more alert and managed to gain possession on the Welsh twenty-two. A tight rolling maul gained them another ten metres when the terrier-like Walsh broke away, and although he was tackled just before the line, his momentum carried him across for a memorable try in the corner.

With the points level and Donaldson hobbling on the sideline with an ankle injury, Horsley stepped up to take the crucial kick. With the home crowd doing their best to distract him, Horsley took a few deep breaths before taking aim at the left hand post. The crowd went silent as the ball left his boot, seemingly heading wide of the left hand post. However, he had judged the swirling wind to perfection, and the ball curved back in and dropped just inside the left upright.

With the referee's whistle blowing seconds later, the Tunaville team swamped Horsley, and the sometimes temperamental centre was carried aloft by his team-mates to the delight of the visiting faithful. What a game !

Old Tunavillians take time out next week for a trip to a 7's event in the Far East. Their next league game will be against Bigtown Barbarians.

Teams:

Old Tunavillians : Walker, Aslett, Mitchell, Horsley, Treece, Donaldson, Dodd, Airey, Tinker, Slaughter, Rev. Mullins, Mullin, Lucas, Walsh, McKinney

Bigtown Welsh : Jones, Evans, Williams, Jenkins, Edwards, Leek, Boyce, Llewelyn, Price, Bassey, Jones, Williams, Evans, Jenkins, Williams

A full report on O.T.R.F.C's Far East tour to the Hong Kong Invitational Rugby Sevens Tournament will be published in next weeks Gazette.