Fleur De Lys - 22

THE claret and ambers were nipped in the bud by the flowermen deep into injury time on Saturday after Fleur De Lys poached a victory with the last kick of the game.

And although Aber picked up yet another bonus point for losing narrowly, at one stage in the last ten minutes they were 20-12 up, so what exactly went wrong?

Coach Gary Lawrence told the Chronicle, "We didn't play well. It's as simple as that. Even if we had won we'd have been completely unhappy with what was by our standards a very poor performance.

"We had a healthy lead going into the closing minutes, and in all honesty we should have put the match to bed, but instead of closing the game out by keeping the ball and inching it along, we kicked away far too much possession in an attempt to find position and paid the price."

Played at Trelyn Park, Aber took the initial lead in the opening minutes with a Steve Lang penalty.

Aber's advantage was short-lived however, as the home team struck back with two tries, which Steve Lang countered with some impressive penalty kicking to make it only 12-9 in Fleur's favour going into the interval.

The boots of Lang leveled the score immediately into the second-half, and Tom McPhereson gave Aber the lead in the 53rd minute with an unconverted try.

Lang once again delivered 15 minutes later with a penalty from 40 metres out to consolidate Aber's lead, and put them in the favourable position of being 20-12 up with ten minutes left on the clock.

However, a try from the Flowerman five minutes from time put the wind in the sails of the good ship Fleur, and their all or nothing penalty in the 87th minute saw them reel in the win, as a rudderless Aber were once again left high and dry thinking of what could have been.

Lawrence added, "Overall it was a disappointing game of rugby. Tom McPhereson's try was the only time we even looked like scoring. Our decision making was bad, and too make matters worse we were without an open-side flanker on the day, which I think negatively impacted on a game we literally kicked away.

"The fact that the referee was not of the standard you'd expect at this level only added to what was for us a very unenjoyable occasion. This is another issue completely, but both ourselves and Fleur have put in a complaint to the WRU about his code of conduct.

"He came across as arrogant, and gave off the impression he really didn't want to be there. Some of his decisions were atrocious, and him and our captain Gareth Taylor got involved in a bit of a running battle, because he just wouldn't listen to anything anyone on the pitch had to say.

"That aside though, we didn't play anywhere near the standard we can, and we must look to get some level of consistency in our play and start producing the necessary goods if we are to start picking up the points."

After having played seven games in Division Two East, Aber have only won one, but surprisingly still sit seventh in the table thanks to the crucial bonus points they have picked up from losing by less than a score of seven in all their defeats to date.

Yet bonus points serve as scant consolation when your are fast acquiring an unwanted reputation as the 'nearly men'.

So hopefully Aber can soon put an end to this dispiriting trend of defeat after defeat by the narrowest of margins, and secure a good old fashioned out and out win.

This Saturday Aber will take a break from league action when they go toe to toe with Aberavon Quins in the Swalec Cup.

Elsewhere the Abergavenny Quins had a cracking result on the weekend against a strong Llanilleth side.

Although going down 12-3 at half-time, the mighty Quins dug in deep and bounced back to win the game 27-19. Proof, if any were needed, just how strong this Abergavenny second team has now become.