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Aberavon v Cross Keys MatchPack : Action Replay
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Aberavon 15-18 Glamorgan Wanderers
A painfully slow start and failure to take points on offer cost the
Wizards dear as they slumped to a disappointing defeat in
front of their home crowd. While the ultimate margin of defeat was
narrow, the Wizards’ all-too-familiar uncertain start
suggested another hiding to match that dished out by the same
opponents the previous season, but the visitors themselves were
guilty of poor finishing and let Aberavon off the hook by failing to
capitalise on at least a couple of golden try-scoringopportunities.
As it was the opening quarter ended with the scores tied at
five-all. During this period, centre Dafydd Hewitt sliced through
to give the visitors the lead, but on two other occasions the
Wanderers had failed miserably to take advantage of a home
defence that went AWOL at crucial moments, and were caught cold when
another promising attack broke down near the Aberavon
line. Home scrum-half Chris Morgans picked up the loose ball and
burst down the touchline, Richard Carter took up the running
and his inside pass sent Liam Gadd clear to finish off a move that
covered fully 95 metres, completely against the run of
play.
The Wanderers went on to dominate the second quarter, and wing Steve
Cullen and full-back Charlie Johnson added unconverted
tries, with Johnson adding a penalty to give his side an 18-5
interval lead.
The second half was largely unremarkable, with all the remaining
points coming from two unconverted Aberavon tries, the first coming from a sweeping attack with full-back Marc Bennett touching
down, and the second when Simon Peters, playing
out-of-position on the right wing, crossed after a period of
sustained forward pressure.
Ultimately, it was a game that could have gone Aberavon’s way, but
the decision was taken, twice, to spurn kickable penalties in favour of a line-out five metres out. On both occasions the
Wizards failed to make the pressure count, and eventually time ran out with the visitors clinging to their narrow lead.
Llandovery 15-20 Aberavon
A largely indeterminate first half swung Aberavon’s way thanks to
their superior scrimmaging – something of a surprise given the Drovers’ reputation in that facet of the game. As the interval
approached, the home side were leading 6-3 thanks to the boot of Justin Lewis, with Jamie Davies having pulled back one
penalty.
The crucial moment came when referee David Williams finally lost
patience with a home front row that had spent much of the half either collapsing or standing upright in the scrums, and
sin-binned prop Andrew Jones. Reduced to seven men, the
Drovers’ pack were in real trouble as the visitors turned the screw
and opted for another scrum, and as the home front row
caved in for the umpteenth time that afternoon the referee was left
with little alternative but to run between the posts and
award a penalty try which Davies had no difficulty in converting.
Lewis managed to narrow the lead to a point with his third penalty
on the stroke of half time, but the Wizards were in front, where they were to remain for the rest of the match.
A tight and often dour contest continued with Davies and Lewis
trading penalties, but as the match moved into the final
quarter it was the visitors who looked the more likely winners as
their back row of Moore, Morris and Peters increasingly
made inroads. Eventually a series of sweeping attacks, in which
teenage centre Ashley Beck was prominent time and time again,
ended with the prolific Davies darting through for a try which he
converted himself.
The Drovers, however, earned themselves what could prove to be a
crucial losing bonus point in the dying moments, forcing another penalty award which was turned into points by replacement
full-back Steffan Rees.
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