Garndiffaith RFC - 14

FOLLOWING their victory over Garndiffaith in the first round of the SWALEC Plate competition Aber have drawn local rivals Brynmawr in Round Two this December in what promises to be a clash worth waiting for.

Following the previous week's debacle away at Pill when Aber were given a sound thrashing, the Bailey Park brigade bounced back with a performance that defied both belief and expectations against Division Three East leaders Garndiffaith.

Aber's ailing scrum had been transformed into a powerful machine that was to lay the foundation to the Garn's exit from this years SWALEC Plate competition.

The front five of Coach Tony Edwards, Captain Gareth Williams and Owen Staphnil did not take a backward step all day, ably supported by their locks Steve Coles and Rhys Willard. The back row who were sporting a variety of coloured boots so that supporters thought they had been sponsored by 'Twinkle Toes' were Paul 'Blue Thunder' Cornock at Eight and Alex 'Purple Flash' Gethin at blindside. Openside Josh Hitchman felt left out of the fashion parade with his black boots.

The backs saw yet another new and inexperienced half back combination of Carlo Jones at scrum half and new cap Leon Stafford at outside half - the later promoted from the Quins. This pushed Stuart Davies to his favoured outside centre with the impressive Jack Flower inside him. Andy Watson and Will Williams were at wing and Ryan Williams full back.

Aber begun with vigour, stating their intent as they rocked the homeside back at the first scrum, before opening their account with a penalty from Stuart Davies (0-3).

The Garn chose to attack through driving forward play but Aber stood firm with Steve Coles impressive in the tight. This and some accurate field kicking kept the Garn at bay.

From a dominant scrum Cornock had time to pick and drive from 35 yards and give an audacious overhead pass to wing Will Williams. With only the full back to beat he chipped over his head but was unceremoniously floored with a blatant late tackle that saw the ref award a penalty try and dispatch the full back to the sin bin. The try was converted by Davies for a ten point lead (0-10).

Cornock was having a stormer of a game from his control seat behind the scrum before he fell foul of the ref for handling on the floor and was pinged with a yellow card.

Despite being a man down Aber won the next scrum comfortably and slick hands in the back line allowed Jack Flower to feed Davies who cruised over in the corner for a unconverted try to make it 0-15 at the interval.

Garn rallied after the break and Aber still a man down were under the cosh. No sooner had Cornock returned to the fray from his punishment than the Captain Williams replaced him on the naughty seat for handling on the ground.

The Garn's tenacity paid dividends as they breached Abers defence for two consecutive converted tries to reduce the deficit to one point, (14-15). 

Determined not to crumble under pressure, Aber's Veteran James Williams came on as sub and Captain Williams returned, whilst all round footballer Cornock replaced Jones at scrum half.

With the score finely balanced territory was vital and time and time again Aber broke the gain line only to find the last pass lacking.

Paradoxically, the Ref did the homeside a favour by sending a prop to the sin bin. This reduced the scrums to uncontested, as they did not have a fit front row player on the bench.

Having missed a penalty moments before Stuart Davies took a quick tap in the Garn 22 and beat three men as he sprinted to the posts. He was hauled down on the line but quickly got to his feet to receive the ball again and score in a man of the match performance. Davies apart from the penalty try had scored all of Aber's points (14-20).

A final heart stopping attack saw Garn break from their 22 and inter-passing up the centre of the field took them to within 10 yards of Aber's posts.

With lungs bursting in defence Aber stopped the attack and from a scrum regained possession and cleared for the final whistle.

The players were euphoric in celebration at the final whistle. The realisation that they have the resources and self belief to beat any side home or away in their division hopefully will be a turning point in terms of consistency for the remainder of the season.