Aberavon RFC - The Wizards : Fixtures & Results

Home full-back Gareth David opened the scoring with a penalty after a somewhat indeterminate passage of play during which neither side seemed able to gain the upper hand. The Ravens' lead was short-lived, however, as the first meaningful attack by either side saw Liam Gadd make a classic outside break before powering over in the right-hand corner for an unconverted try.

It was a rare spark in amid some largely unmemorable play, however. Despite perfect conditions scrappy, error-ridden play was the order of the day and half time was approaching before the match again lifted itself above mediocrity, first with home wing Dan Connolly rounding off some good interpassing amongst the home backs to present David with the simplest of conversions, and then moments later Richard Carter doing likewise for Jamie Davies at the other end, intercepting a Gareth Knox pass near halfway and sprinting clear just before the interval to give the Wizards a two-point lead.

The second half continued in similar vein, with the occasional passage of quality play providing all-too-brief respite from what generally remained a scrappy encounter. While the visitors' hopes received a severe blow when Jamie Davies had to be helped from the field following an apparent off-the-ball incident, with teenager Ashley Beck emerging from the bench to make his second successive appearance for the Wizards, David, meanwhile, but the home side back in front with a well-taken penalty. Once again it was a short-lived lead, however. In another rare moment of quality rugby Richard Carter left his wing to pop up in midfield and carve a huge gap through midfield before moving the ball left to where fellow wing Steve Davies was on hand to race away for a fine try. Full back Marc Bennett sent over the angled conversion, and although David pulled the Ravens back to within three points, a Bridgend victory was clearly never meant to be. Intense pressure was absorbed by the Wizards' defence, despite their having to spend ten minutes with fourteen men as replacement hooker Chris Wells was sin-binned, and the hapless David saw two further long-range penalty attempts drift well wide and a third, right on full time, hit the underside of the crossbar before rebounding back into play. It was heartbreaking for the Brewery Field faithful who perhaps could argue that a draw would have been no more than just, but instead they must contemplate yet another defeat just seven days after going down in similar fashion to Cardiff.

For the Wizards, well, this was anything but vintage stuff. Despite scoring three fine tries their performance never approached the level achieved during the second half a week earlier against Pontypridd, and they must continue to strive to somehow perform at their very best for an entire match.

Paul Williams