Llantrisant - 15

FOLLOWING on from the bumbling farce that saw Abergavenny being reinstated into the Swalec Bowl only to be thrown out again at the eleventh hour, their hastily rearranged league fixture against Llantrisant proved to be just the tonic to remedy the WRU's bureaucracy.

"Both myself and forwards coach Gareth Taylor were actually pleased the Bowl game against Abercarn was called off," revealed head honcho Gary Lawrence.

"Although we didn't agree with Abercarn's handling of the game and flagrant disregard for the WRU's rules and regulations, I don't believe we deserved to go through in their stead.

"Abercarn are a couple of divisions lower than us so we should have beat them on the day, but we didn't, and as a result they earned their passage fair and square.

"I would however like to apologise on behalf of the club to the fans who made the trip to Usk on Saturday in the hope of seeing us play. We didn't know until Friday afternoon that Abercarn had appealed against the previous ruling and had been reinstated.

"The whole thing in my eyes does appear to make a mockery of the point of having rules and regulations in the first place, but nevermind, every cloud has its silver lining, and our performance against Llantrisant certainly made a silk purse out of a pig's ear."

On paper an Abergavenny who are struggling in the lower regions of Division Two East were never predicted to deliver the goods against a third-placed and promotion-chasing Llantrisant. in fact, Abergavenny went into the fixture as underdogs to such an extent that even after the match, Monday's Western Mail, in apparent denial or unchecked error, reported 'Llantrisant were the big scorers of the day in Division Two East as they ran in four tries to demolish Abergavenny 29-15.'

However, the truth remains the exact reverse, as the claret and ambers produced the sort of performance they have been promising all season, continually controlled the game, and bagged an unexpected bonus point victory for their troubles.

Lawrence told the Chronicle, "The difference with Saturday's match is we went through phase after phase and made sure we created loads of space for the backs.

"The forwards were simply awesome and we scrummaged Llantrisant off the park. It was overall a brilliant team performance that the boys are going to draw a lot of confidence from."

The points on the day came from centre Jessie Nowers who crossed for two of the tries, with Danny Haymond on the wing and blind-side flanker Russ Hoggins claiming one apiece.

Steve Lang stepped up to the plate for three conversions and a penalty.

Lawrence added, "It was very much a 15 man performance but I think Lee Oakey in the second row and Paul Cornock at number eight had outstanding games.

"I also think Gareth Taylor deserves a special mention for his contribution, because after spending about 30 minutes lecturing the boys on discipline he came on as a sub and played a full 20 seconds before he was sin-binned for a technical infringement. Much to the delight of the Llantrisant supporters," laughed Lawrence.

Saturday's result sees Aber making further strides out of the relegation zone, but with three teams going down this year, and with the claret and ambers just sitting precariously above the bottom three, they are still very much in the basement mix.

However, an optimistic Lawrence enthused, "We're still not out of the danger-zone, but if we continue to play like the way we did on Saturday, then we are more than a match for anyone. A couple more wins and I think we'll find the necessary breathing space."

Consequently Aber are now currently in the business of holding their breath to see how Saturday's away trip to Gilfach Goch pans out.