Blaina RFC - 20

Abergavenny RFC - 15

IT must only be 10 miles from Abergavenny to Blaina but it seemed the Aber players had just stepped off a Trans-Atlantic flight and didn't know what day it was.

Certainly for the first 15 minutes Blaina had the upper hand scoring a penalty in the first minute followed by a converted try 10 minutes later to put the visitors 10-0 down.

For yet another game there was a different front row combination with Darren Morgan on permit from Brynmawr starting at hooker who had a fine game replacing captain Gareth Williams who was on Holiday.

Similarly the centre partnership was new with Stuart Davies (outside) partnering James Harris (inside). It was nice to see South African Jessie Nowers return this season who later replaced Harris from the bench.

As Aber awoke it became clear that the Abergavenny backs seemed to have the ascendancy over Blaina whereas up front it was turning into a slugfest for possession.

Abergavenny's lineout and scrum held firm but too much possession was lost either at the breakdown, through players being isolated and being pinged for 'holding on', or through the ball being ripped off them at mauls.

Despite this, throughout the game Aber dominated territory mostly thanks to the precision kicking out of hand from Danny Haymond at Outside Half.

On 20 minutes, Tom Macpherson weaved through the defence and fed Haymond who cleverly chipped through advancing tacklers, releasing Stuart Davies who won the foot race to dive on the ball for a try in the corner, 10-5.

Within two minutes of the restart Haymond was caught with the ball in midfield and isolated. He had the ball stripped by the Blaina number nine who sprinted upfield supported by two colleagues who created an overlap to score in the corner, 15-5.

Again Aber countered and spent the remainder of the half in the Blaina 22 but found it hard to convert pressure into points. They settled for a Haymond penalty to take the half time score to 15-8.

The second half began with Aber dominating possession and territory following a half time roasting from coach Tony Edwards that could be heard at the back of the stand.

Blaina made changes on the wing and there appeared a mis-match with the Aber backs that was crying out to be exploited. On the first occasion it was Blaina who lost a winger to a high tackle on Tom Macpherson.

Instead of Aber taking advantage of being a man up to score points, the game degenerated into a niggling affair with sporadic fights at almost every breakdown which suited the home side.

Kickable penalties were spurned for field possession which eventually paid off with a driving maul at the tail of a lineout for Stuart Sherrard to score a converted try to level the scores 15-15.

The unbiased spectator would have put their money on Aber securing a victory at this point as Blaina had hardly ventured into the visitors half.

A series of mistakes by Aber saw a scrum on their 22 yard line. It was wheeled and the ball flicked out into the grateful hands of the Blaina No 13 who had read the situation well and sprinted away for a try and the game.

On reflection, Abergavenny, despite the lion's share of territory and possession made too many unforced errors and mistakes when under pressure.

There is no doubt that Aber have a talented squad of players but they must be more consistent if they are to challenge for the Division Three East league title.