Blaenavon RFC - 10

Rumney RFC - 13

ON a snow covered pitch and in arctic conditions, Rumney overcame Blaenavon in a thrilling encounter which saw both sides playing some attractive rugby.

The game started brightly for Blaenavon with some solid defence from centres Scott Creese and Ben Snell.

The Rumney backs were razor sharp and refused Blaenavon any time to settle on the ball. From a scrum on the Blaenavon 22 metre line a slow delivery from the pack saw Darren Pearce's clearance charged down and with some help from a ricochet from an overhanging tree the Rumney scrum half scored their first unconverted try and a penalty made it 0-8 after 20 minutes.

Rumney scored their second unconverted try from a kick and chase as the visitors went into the break with a 0-13 advantage.

The second half saw Blaenavon playing down the slope with a more determined attitude and a Darren Pearce penalty made it 13-3. Blaenavon were finally off and running but the Rumney back three were outstanding and it took some try saving tackles from Scott Creese and Gareth Jones to keep Blaenavon in the game.

Saving the best to last, Gareth Jones split the Rumney defence clean open and scored under the posts. Pearce converted to give Blaenavon a well earned bonus point from a poor performance.

Blaenavon's next match is away to league leaders Penalta (K.O. 2.30pm.) Coaches Wayne Jones and Gareth Betts will have to come up with a better strategy if Blaenavon are to get close to the 12 -17 result they achieved against the same opponents at the beginning of the season.