Abergavenny RFC - 50

Caldicot RFC - 3

Unfortunately for Caldicot, Abergavenny found their attacking form in Round One of the National Plate on Saturday with a convincing seven try romp.

Injury and unavailability required coach Mathew Price to return at tighthead, not having played there for several years, alongside Ieuan James and Jamie Knight. Dan Beavan partnered Dan Horler in the second row, with Ruddi Lewis, Josh Hitchman and Josh Davies in the back row.

Behind, were Ryan Joyce and Rhod Webster at half back, Mattie Sevenoakes and Dan Smith in the centre, Dan Dunmore and Will Williams on the wings and Josh Parr at full back.

From the kick off, Dan Beavan tackled and jackled the receiver, dispossessing him, allowing Abergavenny to attack the Caldicot line.

Following several quick rucks, Caldicot were forced to infringe at the breakdown, resulting in a converted penalty by Webster, 3-0.

Abergavenny continued to exert pressure for several minutes from the restart, but Caldicot had clearly come to play. Some concerted pressure on the Abergavenny line against the flow of play resulted in a converted penalty to the visitors, 3-3.

As the game began to open up, Abergavenny put together some accurate play, recycling the ball through several phases, before an impressive run by Dan Dunmore broke the line, feeding the ball out of the tackle to the ever present Dan Horler to score. Try unconverted, 8-3.

Almost straight from the restart, Abergavenny attacked the defence, keeping the ball alive. Full Back Josh Parr entered the line chipped the rush defence and collected his own kick to score under the posts. Converted Webster, 15-3.

Within minutes, Abergavenny achieved a close range lineout. The resulting driving maul was defended well by the visitors, but Abergavenny responded, peeling off and driving at the line, Josh Hitchman powering through the attempted tackles for the try, converted by Webster, 22-3.

The home side maintained the pressure from the restart, attacking the visitors line, creating quick front foot ball. Again Dan Horler made a charge for the line, cleverly fixing two defenders and skilfully passing the ball through the tackle for Ieuan James to score under the posts, converted by Webster, 29-3.

The points difference at the break would be sufficient for most sides to concede defeat. However, in the second period, Caldicot continued to fight for every scrap and applied pressure to the Abergavenny line for some time.

Abergavenny remained composed and controlled the ball well, with tactical kicking options from Webster, Sevenoakes and Parr. Recycling the ball, Dunmore again cut the line, attracting defenders and putting Dan Smith clear to score under the posts. Converted Webster, 36-3.

Changes from the bench, Gareth Williams, John Hockey, Kole Parrot, Sam Vaughan and Nathan Byrne served to strengthen and bolster the side through the second period.

Abergavenny worked the corner, and from an attacking lineout, spun off the well drilled defence for Josh Davies to power through the last defender to score. Converted Parr, 43-3.

It had become a one sided encounter, Abergavenny were in total control and the last word was had by Josh Davies, who had caused the visitors problems all afternoon, charging a perfect line through the centre to score his second under the posts. Converted Webster, 50-3.

Although Coaches Gareth Betts, Mathew Price and Gareth Groves will probably say that there is much to work on, this was the sides most balanced performance for some time, which is testament to the effort of the coaching team and players.

Ironically, Caldicot return to Abergavenny next week to fulfil the League fixture and must be wondering what they can do in the short turnaround to compete.