Abergavenny RFC - 20

Rhymney RFC - 36

ABERGAVENNY fell foul of a top of the table Rhymney outfit on Saturday who 'brewed' up a potent performance in the second-half to take Bailey Park by storm.

Abergavenny went into the game missing a number of key players, giving the coaches the opportunity to blood a few new youngsters.

With the youth team not in action, their team Captain Lloyd Holder played his first senior game on the left wing and John 'Hubba' Paxton stepped up from the Quins to play at scrum half.

After missing most of the season through injury, Gareth Williams started his first full game as captain and marshalled a side with plenty of experience in the pack and a sprinkling of youth and experience behind - with Chris Anderson slotting into the outside half role.

Aber exploded out of the sunshine to take an early lead with a Stuart Davies try (5-0).

To the delight of the home support this initial try was soon followed by another as the ball was spread and Sam Vaughan came into the line at full back and raced into the corner to score, converted by Anderson, (12-0).

Aber pressed again and were rewarded with a penalty inside the 22, kicked by Anderson to take the score to 15-0.

The 'Brewers' were visibly shaken with the deficit, as were the supporters who were amazed at how easily Aber had created an early lead against the team that had led Division Three East all season.

Towards the end of the first half there were signs that Rhymney were finding their feet, but apart from conceeding a penalty kick, Aber's defence held firm to give them a satisfying 15-3 lead going into the interval.

Rhymney began the second half in earnest and appeared a different side to the one before. Within two minutes of the restart some good broken field running opened up the home defence and their full back was put over in the corner for a converted try, (15-10).

The visitors continued to attack and minutes later leveled the score after a quick tap penalty five yards out put a heavy forward over for a try, (15-15).

With their tails up they scored a third try in quick succession after some poor Aber defence from a scrum on their own 22 allowed Rhymney's right wing to come infield and dissect the defence to score beneath the posts with an easy conversion, (15-22).

Further missed tackles in defence gave the visitors an opportunity to score again and they took it with glee through their now rampant backs, (15-29). Their final score was created through their forwards, who were feeling left out and again converted to put them out of sight (15-36).

It was Aber who had the final word with another fine individual try from the reliable Stuart Davies, whose pace was too much for the Rhymney defence as he dived in the corner to raise the spirits of the home support, (20-36).

Alas it was to late in the day for a memorable Bailey Park bounce back and Aber must now turn their attention to polishing up their performance if they're to shine on their away day at Croesyceiliog next Saturday. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.