Brynmawr RFC - 16

Blaenavon RFC - 5

IN amongst the wail and gale of Storm Desmond, Blaenavon were blown away by near neighbours Brynmawr.

The storm was always going to have a big impact on the tactics of the game and so it proved.

Blaenavon played up hill into the wind first half and proceeded to keep the ball tight as kicking was virtually impossible into the wind. After two minutes Blaenavon gave away a soft penalty which allowed Brynmawr to easily slot over a wind assisted kick.

The visitors went straight back on the attack keeping Brynmawr pinned down for long periods with good pounding runs, but calamity struck when a knock on spoiled all the forwards hard work.

From a well worked driving lineout, Blaenavon were unlucky not to cross the line, dropping the ball at the last hurdle to spoil another scoring opportunity.

Blaenavon were applying the pressure but just couldn’t convert it to points, and an excellent break out by Brynmawr saw the Blav concede another penalty to make it 6-0 at half time.

Playing with the wind advantage, Blaenavon were quietly confident that they could easily overcome the six points deficit, but Brynmawr had other plans and adopted the driving maul at every opportunity.

Blaenavon were virtually trapped in their own half for 25 minutes as Brynmawr threw everything at them. The home side’s tactics paid dividends when Blaenavon had a second row sin binned and conceded a third penalty to go 9-0 down with 15 minutes remaining.

Playing catch-up rugby, Blaenavon were running the ball at every opportunity, but from a excellent Brynmawr tackle the ball went loose, was hacked through the Blaenavon line and a good pick up saw the Brynmawr centre score under the post, converted,16-0.

Blaenavon again went on the attack and from a good driving line out, Jamie Noble crashed over to score a consolation try.