2001-2002 Season

A 20 - 10 reverse at Pontypool Park was not the kind of start the Wizards wanted, but things were about to get worse. Midweek defeats at Newbridge and Carmarthen Quins, allied with Aberavon's first home defeat in sixteen months to Tondu meant the Wizards had lost four of their opening seven games and were 12 league points of the top of the table. It also meant that Aberavon had already lost more games than they had in the whole of the previous season. However, a 42 - 12 home win over Merthyr in early October was the first in a series of twenty consecutive league wins for Aberavon. Not only did this break the clubs own record, but it beat the Division One record of fifteen, set by Dunvant in 1992-1993. The Wizards tenth successive win came at home against Pontypool in early December as the season entered its second half. The 10 - 9 win put Aberavon top of the table where they would remain for the next five months. 

Meanwhile, in the Principality Cup, the Wizards made it to the seventh round with Cardiff coming to the Talbot Athletic Ground in a match shown live on television. The Wizards led for most of the opening half before wing Liam Roberts scored a controversial try after his leg appeared to be in touch on television replays. The score gave the Blue & Blacks a 15 - 7 interval lead, and while the Wizards were just five points behind going into the last five minutes of the match, outside half Iestyn Harris kicked a late penalty to make Cardiff 24 - 16 winners. 

Back to the league, and the Wizards remained unbeaten until mid April, when some more controversial refereeing meant that Aberavon's winning sequence came to an end at Whitland. This gave second placed Pontypool some hope of pipping the Wizards to the title as both sides were now tied on league points and tries with only points difference separating the teams with just four games remaining. Aberavon scored three tries to win their last home game of the season against Bonymaen. Meanwhile, Pooler also scored three tries to win their their last away game of the season at Bedwas so points difference continued to separate the sides. Pooler went top for 24 hours when they beat Tondu by 9 tries in midweek with Aberavon going back top with their 12 try victory at Merthyr. Two games now remained with the Gwent side having both their games before Aberavon, meaning that Pontypool looked like going back on top. And that they did with a 13 try win over Whitland and 14 try win over Bonymaen. This meant the Wizards had to score 24 tries in their remaining two matches to win the title. The Wizards scored 10 tries in their 63 - 21 win at Tondu to set up a nail biting final game at Dunvant. At Broadacre the Wizards started slowly with the homeside winning 9 - 0 after 24 minutes. However, Aberavon's "never die" attitude came through as they went on to score the 14 tries they needed to win the closest fought Division One championship ever, with the 14th try coming in the 79th minute of the game!  

Aberavon were crowned Division One Champions for the fourth time, but again promotion was not to be. The WRU brought in a playoff at the end of the season to see who would play in the top flight in 2002-2003. The bottom side in the top flight (Caerphilly) had to play the Division One champions over two matches. The result, Caerphilly rested and prepared for the playoffs while the Wizards were fighting tooth and nail with Pontypool for the top spot in Division One. The playoff games became two games too far for the Wizards as they lost 66 - 27 on aggregate.

The Wizards were disappointed to see promotion prevented for the second consecutive season but broke multiple records in the process of winning back-to-back Division One titles:

Club Records Broken By The 2001-02 Wizards

• Most team points in a season (all games): 1609 points

• Most team points in season (league games only): 1151 points

• Most team tries in a season (all games): 218 tries

• Most team tries in a season (league games only): 152 tries

• Top seasonal points scorer (all games): Jamie Davies with 453 points (17T, 64PG, 88C)

• Top seasonal points scorer (league games only): Jamie Davies with 370 points

• Top seasonal try scorer (league games only): Sam Greenaway with 25 tries

• Record win (all games): 102 - 0 v 7th Parachute Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery (Home) - this match was the first time that the club has reached 100 points in their history

• Record win (league game - home): 88 - 7  v Llanharan

• Record win (league game - away): 65 - 10 v Merthyr

• Most consecutive wins (all games): 19 games

• Most consecutive wins (league games only): 20 games

League Records Broken By The 2001-02 Wizards

• Most team tries in a season in top four divisions: 152 tries (joint record with Pontypool)

• Most consecutive league wins in Division One: 20

Welsh National League Division One

Club Awards

• Andrew Thomas (Player of the Year)
• Chris Gittins (Most Promising Player of the Year)
• Andrew Vaughan John (Clubman of the Year)