Abergavenny RFC - 15

Cwmbran RFC - 5

KINGS of the Division Three East hill, Abergavenny, met a bottom of the table Cwmbran at Bailey Park on Saturday and recorded their seventh straight league victory.

Cwmbran who had recently defeated Blaina by 40 odd points were looking for an upset in their bid to avoid the drop to Division Four East.

The game was a potential banana skin for the home side with former Abergavenny player and former Welsh International hooker Kenny Waters now returned to his roots and coaching Cwmbran.

Aber welcomed back lineout specialist Rhys Willard to second row and Tom Rees back at openside. Leighton Thomas joined Stuart Davies in a centre partnership.

Despite the conditions Aber attempted to throw the ball around but handling errors and sliced kicks were inevitable in the swamp like conditions.

This did not make for good viewing and both sides got bogged down in the mud. It would take something special to break the deadlock and it was always likely to come from the home side who had the dominant scrum.

Stuart Davies was the catalyst attacking the Cwmbran line in the final third and finding a gap with his ability to beat most over the first 20 yards of a sprint.

This allowed him to find Will Williams in support who scored in the corner with a dive, 5-0.

The return of Willard gave Aber more lineout options and they used him to take and drive 20 yards into the Cwmbran 22.

James Harris fed Danny Haymond who fed Leighton Thomas who was held up against the upright.

The resultant scrum was won by the home side and James Harris fed Ryan Williams at Fullback who had entered the line at pace and was unmarked to score near the posts. Haymond converted, 12-0.

Thoughts of a bonus point victory entered the supporter's minds at this point but the game degenerated into a slugfest from here on in.

Aber started the second half strongly and attempted to play rugby but the final pass or loose kick let them down due to the conditions.

Cwmbran certainly were no pushovers playing above the potential their lowly league position would suggest. Perhaps the weather was a leveller and its no coincidence that poor field conditions have seen the decline in the volume of tries Aber have been scoring through the season.

Cwmbran were camped for long periods in the Aber 22 and a series of bulldozing runs by heavy forwards were thwarted time and again with strong tackles by Tom Rees, and Paul Cornock.

In the mud the front row were reminiscent of some three headed swamp beast from a sci-fi movie and their own mothers would have had trouble recognising them, but every one of the hearty fellows fought as if their lives depended on it and were the unsung heroes as always. 

The Abergavenny scrum is an impressive weapon and the many hours of practice against the invaluable club acquisition of the scrummage machine is paying dividends. It allows Aber to sap the strength from sides in the final quarter of games. 

In defence Aber frustrated the referee once to often and Rob Sevenoaks was dispatched with a yellow card for being offside.

Cwmbran were not giving up and now with Aber down to 14 men they pushed harder. Aber's drift defence held firm through many attacks but eventually the visitors got their reward.

Their pack now with a man advantage kept things tight and with a rolling maul drove over for the score.  

Aber returned to 15 men and gained parity again. The final score of the game came from a Danny penalty awarded for offside some 30 yards in front of the posts.