Abercarn - 17

AFTER struggling to make any significant impact on Division Two East this season, Abergavenny suffered the humiliation of being unexpectedly kicked out of the SWALEC Bowl by Division Five East leaders Abercarn who scored three tries to the claret and ambers' one.

Coach Gary Lawrence told the Chronicle, "A lot of people didn't expect us to lose this game and it's very disappointing that we did. We didn't really perform and failed to adapt to a few things that went against us, but in all fairness to Abercarn they played the better rugby and deserved the win."

Following on the heels of a promising start which saw Aber go three points ahead via a Steve Lang penalty, things soon went wrong for the Bailey Park brigade.

An injured Abercarn prop could not be replaced and entailed the introduction of passive scrums to the match, which greatly reduced Aber's attacking potential.

Lawrence revealed, "Abercarn had a loose-head on the bench, but he refused to make the jump to tight-head, and as a result uncontested scrums became the order of the day.

"It obviously wasn't something that was going to work in our favour, but as a Division Two side we should have adapted to the situation a whole lot better than we did.

"It was also a shame from the point of view of a 18-year-old loose-head of ours called Gwilliam Davies. He's shown a lot of promise and we really wanted to test him in the scrum, but it just wasn't to be. Nevertheless the youngster had a good game anyway."

Back into the thick of things and Abercarn scored next with an unconverted to take and hold the lead for the remainder of the game.

The home-side claimed another try before Lang demonstrated good form with the boot from distance to strike two penalties and bring Aber back within a point at 10-9.   

With their forwards struggling for dominance without the benefit of scrum power, the claret and ambers utilised their backs in attack, but unforced errors played into Abercarn's hands as the home-side ended the half with a drop goal to claim a 13-9 lead.

The second-half started encouragingly for Aber with Rob Sevenoaks, Gareth Williams and lock Jan Coetsee driving relentlessly from the base of rucks, and centres Paul Cornock and Jesse Nowers continually questioning the Abercarn defence.

And although Grant Harty came on and added to the pace of the back three, the claret and ambers remained thwarted by that final telling pass.

Another Lang penalty brought Aber to within a point of taking the lead, but Abercarn refused to lie down, and against the run of play their outside half delivered a cheeky little grubber through the advancing backs to the Abergavenny 22 yard line.

The ball proceeded to bobble over the try line and set up camp under the posts, where it patiently waited for the Abercarn centre to win the the race and claim the prize of a converted try.

Stung into a riposte, Aber drove deep into the Abercarn 22 where Owen Staphnil scrambled over for five points.

With the game going down to the wire, Abergavenny kept the ball alive through several phases as they attempted to score the deciding try - as a penalty would only draw the game and Abercarn would go through on try count.

However fortune could only favour one 'Aber' on the day, and it wasn't to be the 'gavenny' as they succumbed to an unforced error and the final whistle sounded. 

Lawrence added, "The simple fact is we failed to adapt to what was in front of us in the way that a Division Two East side should, and subsequently we paid the price.

"On a positive note the likes of Dan Haymond, Grant Harty, and Owen Staphnil all had a good game, and we've got to look at the positives if we're to stand a chance in the relegation battle to come."

This Saturday will see Abergavenny return to Bailey Park when they play host to a bottom-of-the-table Treherbet in a must win match.