Crickhowell RFC - 17

New Panteg RFC - 18

IN what was probably Crickhowell's best performance of the season to date, they just pipped old rivals New Panteg to the post by a point.

After last week's good showing against Cwmcarn, New Panteg, who before Saturday had only lost one game to date this season, poised a much tougher proposition for the Parc Broyd faithful.

With inspirational skipper James Webb injured, Crick needed to make changes by bringing versatile wing man Ben Withy into the back row and with the return of second row Guy Solomon, outside half John Owen and young flyer Henry Parsons, the line-up looked promising.

Last week's return to form was evident from the kick off as Crickhowell started the game at a pace that New Panteg found difficult to live with.

Once again the homeside's pack tore into each breakdown like terriers, forcing penalties from Panteg on which Adam Howells capitalised to rack up a nine point lead.

Crick were really rattling the visitors with their physical rucking game and they felt cheated when the referee failed to give two tries by back row men Chris Williams and Ben Withy - deeming them to be held up when most people could see that they had grounded the ball.

When New Panteg scored a breakaway try, Crick's sense of injustice spurred them into action

as centres Joe Powell and Adam Howells tackled everything that moved.

The game was fast becoming governed by the rule of the boot as the exchange of penalties alone kept the score line ticking over.

Crick's number ten John Owen stepped up to the plate to take control with some very intelligent tactical kicking and ensured that New Panteg rarely got near the Crickhowell line. Howells added the points to take Crick into a two score lead at 18-10.

In the last minute the importance of Howells's last penalty became clear when Panteg broke away to score a converted try and come within a cat's whisker of poaching a win.

Subsequently the final scoreline flattered the visitors somewhat, nevertheless Crick can feel rightly proud of their second victory in as many weeks.

There were some fine individual performances on the field, none more so than second rowers Guy Solomon and Tom Payne who really did some damage in the rucks. Solomon in particularly proved a real handful!

However the man of the match award was presented to outside half Owen who had controlled the game throughout.