Abergavenny RFC - 27

Brymawr RFC - 13

ABER overcome their old nemesis Brynmawr in fine style on the weekend and secured a bonus point victory to boot.

With a lazy old sun glaring as hot as this hotly anticipated local derby, a hard playing surface bereft of rain welcomed the stampede of Brynmawr studs to a glorious Spring day in Bailey Park.

Alas champagne rugby was not on offer as a war of attrition in the ranks of the forwards during the early exchanges and a generous littering of unforced errors frustrated the supporters and dashed any hopes of a fast and flowing performance.

Aber welcomed back two players back after long term injuries requiring surgery. Lewis Evans who had been out for over two seasons with a serious knee injury began in his favoured position of scrum half and Sandy Aitken who had missed the whole season with a shoulder injury began at full back.

It was the visitors who took an early lead with a penalty after only a minute's play.

Lewis Evans levelled the score with a penalty 20 minutes in. Brynmawr answered with some fine driving play through their pack which eventually led to Aber conceding a penalty, 3-6.

As the half wore on it became clear that Aber held the ascendency in the scrums, comfortably winning their own ball and driving the visitors off theirs.

The foundation for an Aber victory had been laid, but the team took a long time to make this pressure tell.

A penalty five yards from the visitor's line resulted in a scrum and Aber driving Brynmawr over their line. Lewis Evans snapped up the ball from the feet of Cornock to dive over.

Evans converted his own try with a long touchline kick to give Aber a 10-6 half time lead.

Five minutes into the second half, the visitors turned over ball on the edge of their 22 and the right wing broke along the touchline beating tacklers before cutting inside rounding the full back and scoring under the post for a converted try to give Brynmawr an unexpected 10-13 lead.

The game became a stop start affair with several injuries on either side. Frank James replaced Brian Wright at prop but it was the visiting pack who suffered most after a pounding up front from the Abergavenny eight.

The Aber pack further demonstrated their dominance with a line out five yards from the visitors' line. From the ensuing maul Frank James drove over to regain the lead for the home side, 15-13.

Further injuries in the visiting front row reduced the game to passive scrums which was worrying for Aber as any dominance in that area was now lost. Undeterred they chose to move the ball wide bringing strike runners Will Williams and Ian Davies into the game more and stretching Brynmawr's defence.

In a desperate attempt to release the pressure the visitors moved the ball wide in their 22 but a stray pass was collected by Stuart Davies who sprinted in from 20 yards to score.

Brynmawr were now chasing the game but Aber kept on the pressure from the restart seeking that all important bonus point fourth try.

Frank James had made a big impact since coming on with some bulldozing, defence breaking runs. One such run saw James dry within five yards of the Brynmawr line before laying the ball back for Tom Rees to pick up and drive over for a try, converted by Kieran Skinner.

All in all a good day's work for Aber who will now look for more of the same at the home of Tredegar Ironsides next Saturday.