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Aberavon v Bridgend MatchPack : Action Replay
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Aberavon 30-23 Cardiff
Just five weeks after giving Cardiff an almighty hammering in the
Principality Premiership, the Wizards rubbed salt into the wound by
dumping the Blue and Blacks out of the Konica Minolta Cup. A
seven-point winning margin may suggest something of a nail biter,
but in fact a converted Cardiff try in the dying moments, some nine
minutes into injury time, made things look a lot closer than they
had been for much of the second half.
The Wizards should have got off to a dream start when Richard
Carter, unusually playing at full-back, ran back a loose clearance
kick. Having easily won the race to his own kick ahead he
uncharacteristically failed to gather the bouncing ball and the
visitors were relieved to be feeding a defensive scrum rather than
lining up to face a conversion attempt after just ninety seconds.
It was a short-lived feeling of relief, however, as a few minutes
later turnover ball near half-way found its way to Liam Gadd, who
made ground before kicking over the defence. Left wing Steve Davies
then showed an astonishing turn of speed to outstrip everyone,
gather and touch down wide out.
A tit-for-tat pattern emerged as Cardiff lock Damien Welch – easily
the visitors' best player – ran cleverly to level the scores, and
then outside half Craig Evans sent over a penalty to put Cardiff
ahead for what was to be the only time. The Wizards' response was
for Richard Morris to go bursting away from a lineout before
releasing speedy scrum-half Chris Morgans on a flight-path to the
corner flag.
Jamie Davies, who had shaved the outside of both uprights with his
two conversion attempts, at last found his range with a penalty goal
to extend the home lead following a scuffle amongst the forwards
that yielded a yellow card for Cardiff flanker Gavin Lucas. It was,
however, short-lived as the Wizards' creaking line-out, not for the
first time, coughed up possession which the visitors moved swiftly
across the field to level the scores via a corner try from full back
Roger Davies.
The second half saw the home side gain the upper hand despite
playing into the wind. A undoubted considerable at the set scrums
became more emphatic and a degree of urgency injected by scrum-half
Chris Morgans had the visitors pack-pedalling, and after play had
gone through numerous phases a Morgans pass found Chris Davies
steaming up like an express train, taking the ball at top speed on
an unstoppable run to the posts.
Namesake Jamie converted, and although opposite number Evans landed
a penalty to once again narrow the gap, it was increasingly looking
like another Aberavon victory. Even after the visitors had once
again called for passive scrums, infuriating the home supporters who
saw one of their team's major weapons effectively negated for the
second time in two matches against Cardiff, there was the feeling
that it was only a matter of time before the Wizards put the tie
beyond reach. A long-range penalty against the wind from Davies
restored the seven-point home advantage, and then Steve Davies, who
had opened the scoring, applied the coup-de-grace, following up a
diagonal kick to hack on, regather and score at the posts. Davies
again added the extras and with two minutes left to play that, in
all honesty, should have been that.
Referee Huw Watkins, however, had other ideas and conjured up a
remarkable ten minutes of stoppage time, going on to further
infuriate the home faithful with a series of penalties against the
home during side which Steve Davies received a yellow card to match
one waved at Liam Gadd a few minutes earlier. It all ended when
Cardiff hooker Ross Johnston crossed near the posts to get awarded
the try despite, in most people's eyes, having knocked the ball
forward during the approach. Evans converted, and incredibly there
was still time left to play, but the Wizards battened down the
hatches and gave the visitors no chance of bagging an unlikely
equalizer.
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