Abergavenny RFC - 22

Newport HSOB RFC - 14

AFTER being beaten narrowly by Newport HSOB in the opening fixture of the season, Aber set the record straight at Bailey Park on Saturday.

Aber sported a front row of Owen Staphnill, Gareth Williams and Brian Wright, locks Dan Horler and Steve Coles and a back row of Tom Rees (open) Sean Buck (blind) and Paul Cornock (number eight).

James Harris was joined at half back by outside half Tom Haynes, a promising 19 year old transferee from Talywain who had pedigree as a Gwent Dragons under 15 and under 16 player.

Kristian Knapp joined Captain Stuart Davies in the centre and Jack Flower played full back with Will Williams and Ian Davies on the wings.

Aber began with much possession and territory but loose passes thwarted any progress. They also lost prop Wright to a yellow card for a punch early on setting them back further as Buck had to be replaced by prop Jamie Knight so scrums could continue.

Despite being a man down Aber took the lead with a penalty from James Harris.

The visitors attacked from their own try line gathering a missed penalty attempt and took the ball deep into Aber's half where they were awarded a penalty for a late tackle. They took it quickly, fed it to their inside centre who ran 35 yards through the home defence to score a try, converted, 3-7.

Bouyed by their success the visitors continued to trouble Aber for the remainder of the half with a series of attacks forcing Aber to defend. The back row in particular were immense in this challenge and kept the visitors at bay and the 3-7 scoreline intact.

The second half began with another blow for Aber when they lost Sean Buck for an offside offence.

Youngster Haynes settled nicely into the game, finding touch when required and his distribution skills and vision didn't go unnoticed.

However, HSOB extended their lead following a line out five yards from Aber's line, front ball was taken and driven and a try converted from wide, 3-14.

It would have taken a brave betting man to wager against anything other than an away win at this point, but Aber had other plans and sticking to their game plan they attacked the visitors. A try soon came created by Sean Buck who burst through midfield for 25 yards and as he fell, off loaded to Ian Davies in support to finish it off from the 22, converted by Harris, 10-14.

Aber attacked from the restart and after a bit of 'ping pong', Will Williams gathered on his 22 yard line and scythed through midfield beating nine defenders before slipping the ball to Jack Flower, who in turn fed poacher Ian Davies inside for a score beneath the posts to give Aber the lead for the first time in the game.

With less than ten minutes left Aber tried to keep play in the visitor's half but the visitors had other plans and were awarded several penalties for their troubles.

To their credit Newport spurned kicks that could have drawn the game and went for the try. With five yards of the home line a wild speculative pass to the Newport wing was seized upon by the advancing Aber back line and hacked first by Will Williams, and again in support was poacher extraordinaire Ian Davies who hacked it on from half way past the last defender. The ball sat up for him to gather and collapse over the line for his hat trick and defining score of the day.