Abergavenny RFC - 18

Penygraig RFC - 17

ABERGAVENNY are one step closer to writing their name into the history books but their quarter-final against Penygraig was a close run call.

With such a huge prize at stake the Bailey Park encounter more than lived up to its billing and kept the huge home crowd on its toes until the final whistle.

Ahead of the match, coaches Simon Williams and Nathan Thomas had a full squad to select from.

Rob Lothian joined skipper Ieuan James and Jay Adams in the front row. Will Evans and Dan Horler were in the engine house, and Josh Davies returned from injury at number eight, flanked by Dan Beavan and Rhys Dawe. Rhob Connick and Rhod Webster were at half-back, Jacob Buttler came in to partner Joe Evans in the centre. Josh Parr was at full back, with Nathan Byrne and Antony Squires on the wings.

Aber began the game playing up the slope with a strong wind behind them, but it was the away side who had the better of the early exchanges keeping the ball and making the home side defend, but not causing them too much trouble.

Aber slowly worked themselves into the game and obtained a foothold in the Penygraig half, and after a strong carry from winger Byrne, flanker Rhys Dawe took an excellent line off him to split the defence and sprint 35 metres to score the opening try, converted by Josh Parr, 7-0 to Abergavenny.

From the restart, Aber once again took the game to Penygraig and kept the away side under long periods of pressure. Only desperate defence and a couple of handling errors prevented the home side increasing their lead.

After keeping Penygraig pinned in their own half for most of the second quarter of the game a speculative kick out of defence was misjudged by the home defence and allowed the away side a foothold on the Aber line, which eventually resulted in a converted try to level the scores.

Once again the home side went back on the attack and were rewarded with two penalties, the second kicked by Parr to give Aber a 10-7 lead a half time .

Matt Charles came on at prop at half-time to tighten up a creaking scrum and the game went back and forth, with neither side getting any ascendency, but it was the away side that made the first breakthrough, scoring a converted try to take the lead for the first time in the match, 10-14 . Abergavenny rung the changes. Lewis Evans came on at scrum half and Alex Howes slotted into the back row. After a couple of driving line outs, Howes broke down the blindside to find Lewis Evans in support, who scored in the corner to regain the lead, 15-14.

In true cup rugby style Penygraig bounced back with a well-converted a difficult penalty to regain the lead.

The Abergavenny coaches now flooded the field with replacements. Nathan Thomas and Luke Williams came on in the second row. Gareth Williams was replacement hooker and Sam Vaughan and Nathan Williams in the back three .

These changes seemed to galvanise the home side and they started to play with more zest and enthusiasm, forcing the Penygraig side back into their own half.

Time was ticking away and the visitors’ defence was holding firm only for them to stray off side, giving Aber a shot at goal to win the game.

Youth team player Nathan Williams took the kick only for it to fall just short, and with only four minutes remaining it looked like the game had gone.

However, this Abergavenny side will not lie down and once again went on the attack which resulted in another offside penalty which looked very kickable.

Once again Nathan Williams stepped forward and calmly kicked the goal to put the clarets in the lead with one minute on the clock.

Aber regained the ball from the restart and were awarded a penalty, but from the ensuing line out Penygraig were awarded a very controversial penalty of their own to give them one more chance to win the spoils.

Yet the home defence held firm to clinch a famous victory and book a place in the semi-finals.

Abergavenny rugby club would like to thank everybody for the tremendous support they received on Saturday. The mini rugby section was the guard of honour prior to kick-off and club president and match sponsor Mario van de Vyver awarded man of the match to Abergavenny’s number eight Josh Davies.

By the time you read this, Abergavenny will know who their semi-final opponents are in a game to be played at a neutral venue on March 30. Please contact the club for further details. Aber’s next home game will be on Tuesday, March 19 against RTB. kick-off is at 7.15pm.