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Aberavon v Cross Keys :
Editor's Viewpoint
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Four Points for a Win...
It doesn’t get any easier, does it? Having got the show back on the road
with a win at Llandovery, we face the fast-improving Cross Keys who arrive
on the back of a good result last weekend at home to Bridgend. We were
fortunate to scrape home against the Keys on their last visit here back in
the Spring, having failed to do so in the corresponding fixture at Pandy
Park a few weeks earlier, which in turn was just a few days after we had
progressed in the cup at their expense.
Our visits to Pandy Park are at the moment our only regular trips into
Gwent’s Western Valley. In days gone by we used to pass the Keys’
headquarters on a regular basis as we travelled onward towards Newbridge
or Abertillery. Sadly the former fell through the Premiership’s trapdoor a
couple of seasons ago, whilst the latter, even more sadly, were forced to
fold before a merger with Blaenau-Gwent gave them a slender lifeline.
Simple economics, since the end of amateurism, have forced these moves,
and it is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Cross Keys’
management that their club continues to prosper in an area where
competition for players is most intense, and where the lure of the “M4
corridor” is uncomfortably close at hand.
Going into today’s match, the two clubs stand astride the mid-table mark,
with the Wizards having moved up to seventh place following last weekend’s
events, and the Keys just one place, one point, one try and one win behind
– a set of statistics which graphically demonstrates the difficulties in
compiling accurate league tables since the re-introduction of bonus points
this season. I’m not sure what the rationale behind their introduction
into the domestic league may have been, but we now have a situation where
the league table, in which I have always believed that fewer defeats
should be reflected by a higher position, is headed up by a team who have
played the same number of times and have lost one more match than the team
in second place, while the weekly attempts by the media to publish
accurate tables suggest a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds – I
really don’t envy anyone who has to compile results, numbers of tries
scored, margins of victory and so on for the entire spectrum of Welsh club
rugby!
Going back to that win over Llandovery last weekend, it was interesting
that the Drovers’ biggest weapon – their scrum – came up second best in
the contest. With the Wizards’ scrimmaging prowess not really having
showed itself so far this season, and the Llandovery eight receiving
plaudits for their set-piece work, it was an area of concern ahead of the
game, yet the home pack was forced to concede a penalty try after
successive illegal attempts to halt the Wizards’ progress, evoking
memories of the season before last when the Wizards’ pack was causing
untold mayhem week after week, and when at one stage ‘penalty try’ was
actually the top try-scorer for the season to date! It’s a very different
Aberavon these days, with the backs picking up most of the touchdowns – in
fact, putting aside for the moment that penalty try which undoubtedly
belongs to the pack collectively, Chris Wells scored against Swansea our
first forward try of this league campaign – arguably the only one, given
that Simon Peters’ effort against Glamorgan Wanderers came when he was, in
fact, playing on the right wing at that particular stage of the match.
Anyway, on to today, and to the victors will go the spoils, with the
possibility (theoretically, at least) of climbing anything up to five
places up the table as a result. And to those who have to try and work
that out come Saturday evening, jolly good luck!
Paul Williams
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