A thunderous Blaenavon performance, twinned with chilly Arctic blast proved too much for the boys from Brecon on Saturday as they were literally blown away by the superior side.

Playing under slate grey skies and in front of a good crowd, considering the Six Nations was on TV and the temperature were somewhat on the uncomfortable side, the gods of rugby appeared to favour Blaenavon from the kick-off,

In what can only be described as a dream start, the Brecon outside half kicked the ball straight to second row, Matthew Billings who ran a full 60 yards to touch down in the first minute of the game. This was gleefully converted by Darren Pearce and Blaenavon found themselves 7-0 up without having to expend any effort on their part whatsoever.

Blaenavon continued to press the shell shocked Brecon side and after nine minutes worked the ball to the blind side for winger Gareth Groves to run 65 metres in what could have been try number two if not for some desperate Brecon defending blocking him right on the line.

Brecon battled on and continued to try and break out of their own half with some good tactical kicking by their outside half and powerful running by their speedy backs, but the Blaenavon defence remained firm.

The Blaenavon pack was supplying a steady stream of possession to dynamic scrum half Ryan Bates and in the scrum the dominant front row of Lewis John, Dan Horseman and Sam Evans really turned the screw on the much lighter and less experienced Brecon pack.

Yet despite having the lion’s share of possession and territory, Blaenavon failed to convert pressure into points and as the first half progressed it was Brecon who was putting together better scoring chances.

A long range penalty from the excellent boot of their outside half and a well worked try by their back three made it 7-10 to Brecon at half-time.

The second half saw Blaenavon turn up the heat with big booming runs by Jamie Noble.

Eventually Wayne Redman blasted his way over for Blaenavon’s second try, converted by Pearce, 14-10

A brilliant individual run by Ryan Bates saw him release the ball to Dan Phillips who put Tom Watkins into space for a try under the sticks. Pearce again added the conversion.

Blaenavon added a bonus point try in the last five minutes when a cracking individual run by Richard Denning saw him link up with Blaine Meek who fed Marcus Jones the ball to crash over, converted by Pearce, to make it a hard won 28-10.

Next week Blaenavon are away to Nelson with a 2-30pm Kick off.