If ever the form-book was completely turned
upside-down, then this was the occasion. Cardiff, flying high and in
with a shout of the Principality Premiership title, arrived at
Aberavon having notched up a memorable victory over Pontypridd at
Sardis Road, despite having played virtually half the match with
only fourteen men. On the other hand the Wizards, who had impressed
only in patches this season, had on the same day
struggled their way to a narrow and unconvincing home
win over basement club Maesteg.
One area of concern of late had been the Wizards' defence, which had been
guilty of leaking 'soft' tries. This was, however, another day. Amongst an
exchange of penalties between Jamie Davies and Cardiff wing Leigh
Halfpenny, centre Gareth Chapman raced through for an unconverted score,
but it was to be the only defensive lapse in a first half that saw the
visitors dominate in terms of possession and territory, recycling and
moving the ball quickly but repeatedly foundering on the aggressive
tackling of the home threequarters. Not even the presence of popular
former Aberavon centre Darren Ryan, himself a fine exponent of the crash
tackle, could change the situation, and after Chris Wells had strolled
over to level the scores, and Jamie Davies had converted to give his side
a two-point lead in the approach to half time, it was time for the Wizards
to start believing in themselves all over again.
It took just five minutes of the second half for the home side to take
control and extend their lead by ten points. Davies' third penalty goal
got the ball rolling and took it to 16-11, then the Aberavon pack took
control, gaining an ascendancy in the set scrums that had the Cardiff
eight retreating at a rate of knots, and which in turn saw confidence grow
almost instantly. Almost immediately from the restart the Wizards were
back on the attack, and as the pressure on the visitors' line mounted it
was tight-head prop Anthony Edwards who capped a dynamic all round display
by touching down at the end of a well-controlled rolling maul.
Davies' conversion made it 23-11, and although Halfpenny then put over his
third penalty, they were to be the visitors' last points of the day as the
home forwards continued to turn the screw, and when another maul rumbled
it's way towards the Cardiff line replacement hooker Ryan Price paid the
price of ten minutes in the sin-bin for pulling it down. The Wizards
unhesitatingly went for the line-out, and another rumble saw Edwards'
fellow prop Lloyd Howell emerge with the ball from underneath the pile of
bodies, to make it a try apiece for each of the front row. Davies'
conversion attempt was to be his only failure of the day.
With Davies and half-back partner Chris Morgans dictating play behind a
totally dominant pack in which Robbie Morgan was the outstanding performer
even in an outstanding team display, it began to look like a question of
how much more the Wizards could score. Wholesale changes from the Cardiff
bench did nothing to improve their lot, in stark contrast to the
subsequent introductions from the Aberavon bench that kept up the Wizards'
momentum during the final quarter. Keeping it simple, sticking to the
basics and playing for territory paid dividends as the visitors struggled
to break out of the Aberavon stranglehold, and it came as no surprise when
a short pass from Morgans to Chris Davies saw the flanker, given added
impetus by back-row colleague Justin Tipuric, drive through the final
despairing tackles to crash over near the right-hand corner. Davies' added
the extras with a fine kick, and at 35-14 with less than a quarter-hour to
play Cardiff looked like a side well-beaten.
To their credit they hung on grimly to restrict the Wizards to just one
further try – a situation that may not have been the case had the home
advantage not been somewhat blunted by the adoption of uncontested scrums
as the visitors ran out of front-row players. It was, nonetheless, a
quality score, coming after countless phases of possession had taken play
to within the shadow of the Cardiff posts. From there, a long, swift pass
out to the left found replacement hooker Marc Breeze, whose handling
skills are fast becoming the stuff of legend. The youngster displayed his
usual deftness in catching and flicking on in one movement to release wing
Steve Davies for a simple try. Davies, almost inevitably, sent over the
touchline conversion to take his personal tally to seventeen points, and
although the visitors went desperately in search of a late consolation
score, that Aberavon defence held firm to the end.
