Caerphilly RFC - 0

Abergavenny RFC - 17

ABERGAVENNY thundered their way to a glorious victory over the once mighty Caerphilly at the impressive Victoria Park ground.

The Caerphilly Aber encountered were a poor reflection of the side that once graced a park which has hosted some of Europe's best, but they still made Aber work hard to earn the win.

Aber has seen constant change in the front row this season and Saturday's match saw the combination of Brian Wright and Rob Lothian at prop with Owen Staphnill at hooker for the unavailable Gareth Williams. Dan Horler and Steve Coles stepped in at lock, Paul Cornock pulled on the number eight shirt, Joe Davey played blindside and the effervescent Tom Rees plied his trade at openside.

James Harris and Jack Flower formed the half back partnership with Kristian Knapp and Stuart Davies at centre. Speedsters Will Williams and Ian Davies were at wing and Ryan Williams at full back.

Played on a heavy pitch from the recent rains, it was Jack Flower who broke the deadlock with a try conjured out of nothing. The forwards laid the platform with a driving lineout on the home 10 yard line which took them into the 22.

From a ruck, a long pass brought centre Knapp into play, it was recycled again and Steve Coles carried for a further ten yards before Harris fed Flower. He assessed what was around him and chipped over the advancing defence to sprint and gather the ball ten yards from the try line and gallop over to score. Conversion by James Harris, 0-7.

The scrums were untidy with front rows often popping up and having to be reset. One sensed Aber contained too much firepower for the hapless Caerphilly who are languishing at the foot of the table, yet failed to take full advantage to reflect this in the scoreline. A penalty in front of the posts by Harris took the half time score to 0-10 to the visitors.

Josh Hitchman replaced Cornock in the back row during the break. The second half began with Aber attacking again. Excellent positional kicking from Harris gave the visitors a great scoring opportunity but the final pass went wide into touch with the line at their mercy.

Aber continued to have a wealth of possession with Tom Rees putting his head where angels would fear to tread and turning over ball, yet handling errors stilted their advance. Thankfully positional kicking from Jack Flower and Ryan Williams has improved recently to give good field position out of defence.

Caleb Gray replaced Kristian Knapp and his defensive covering limited the home sides attacking potential as they chased the game in hope when by now Aber should have been out of sight.

A typical long range attack through midfield from Captain Stuart Davies covering 60 yards from his own 22 saw him feed the ever present Ian Davies in support to carry the ball to within 15 yards of the Caerphilly line. From this position Aber camped in the home 22 and after a series of rucks crossed the line twice through the forwards, only to be held up.

From a scrum five Harris fed Flower who dummied twice before running through the defence to score near the posts. The conversion was sent over by Harris, to give Aber a deserved but hard-earned 0-17 victory.

This Saturday's match at Bailey Park against Pill Harriers will surely be a litmus test of Aber's progress. Kick off is at 2.30pm and the Club call on all supporters to come and lend their voices as this could prove the true turning point of the season.