Pontypool United - 19

Abergavenny RFC - 10

ABERGAVENNY travelled to old rivals Pontypool United on Saturday and for the second successive Saturday came away with no points.

There were a couple of changes from the side that played last week, James Spooner moving from centre to scrum half and Stuart Davies moving into the centre to give a first team debut to one of last year's youth team Jack Bruton. CJ Woodhouse was relegated to the bench with Shaun Buck taking over at blindside.

From the kick off Aber knocked the ball on and at the resulting scrum there was a minor scuffle which resulted in hooker Gareth Williams and his opposite number being yellow carded. Ponty seemed to deal with this disruption better and put Aber under long periods of pressure, forcing numerous penalties, three of which were kicked by their outside half to give them a nine point lead.

Aber started the second half with a new lease of life and was able to keep the ball through several phases, and although they lost Gareth Williams with a dislocated shoulder, the front row still had the upper hand in the scrum with Owen Staphnill in particular giving his opposite number a torrid time.

Aber continued to exert pressure on the Pontypool line and were awarded a penalty kicked by Rhodri Webster. From the resulting kick off a wayward kick out of defence was taken by the Ponty fullback who put up a speculative up and under.

Their fullback re-gathered the ball to put the Pontypool flanker in under the post, converted by the outside half to leave the score 16-3. Abergavenny brought on replacements CJ Woodhouse and Frank James who made an immediate impact.

The Abergavenny pack were now producing some quick clean ball for the backs, enabling them to break the Pontypool defensive line on a couple of occasions. From a clean break by Stuart Davies in the centre, winger Will Williams was put over under the posts, converted by Rhodri Webster, 16-10. Against the run of play Ponty gained another penalty and then tried to slow the game down. Aber continued to push for a bonus point but ended with nothing but a very disappointing afternoon to show for their troubles..