Rhymney RFC - 19

Abergavenny RFC - 32

ABERGAVENNY made it three wins on a bounce when they steamrolled a flailing Rhymney who were already smarting from two opening defeats this season.

From the kick-off the clarets dominated possession and bossed the stretched home side's defence around the park.

Through several phases of play, Ryan Williams came into the line from full back, held up two defenders and put Nathan Byrne into the smallest of outside spaces to score in the corner.

Things looked ominous for the Brewers, but the home side immediately rallied and within minutes had replied with an unconverted try of their own to make it 5-5.

The Rhymney score appeared to break Aber's rhythm and for much of the rest of the first half, neither side really gained the ascendancy, with a converted penalty from Rhymney giving them an 8-5 lead.

The now familiar front row of Owen Staphnil, Gareth Williams and Ryan Morgan were totally dominant at the scrummage, at one stage driving their opposition 20 metres.

A penalty from the set piece resulted in Abergavenny kicking to the corner and a superb driving maul from the clarets' pack ended with scrum half Lewis Evans going over for the try, unconverted, 8-10.

With a penalty apiece the first half looked to finish at 11-13, however, a kick deep into the Rhymney half was fielded by the home full back who attacked the Abergavenny line, he then attempted a kick which was charged down by Abergavenny centre Gareth Bevan, who caught it in mid air, and raced a full 50 metres to score under the posts, converted by Evans, 11-20.

A converted penalty and an unconverted try early in the second half by the Brewers brought the score back to 19-20, but Clarets quickly responded with back rower Sean Buck charging down a clearance kick from the Rhymney outside half and showing good pace to ground the loose ball for an unconverted try, 19-25.

In the last minute of the game, a move straight from the training paddock showed what Abergavenny are capable of. From a dominant scrummage Paul Cornock fed Lewis Evans at scrum half, only to receive the ball on the loop and feed pace man Will Williams on the wing. Williams took the ball deep into the Rhymney half passing to Cornock in support who handed off the Rhymney tackler to score, converted by Evans, for a bonus point win.

Abergavenny will not see this as a particularly good performance, but nevertheless, they have still returned from an away fixture with a winning bonus point.

With three wins and bonus points from their first three games, Abergavenny will be keen to make it four from four when they face form side Risca at Bailey Park this Saturday.