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Aberavon v Ebbw Vale MatchPack : Report
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Aberavon progressed to their fourteenth appearance
at the semi-final stage of the WRU Cup with a home win over a
battling Ebbw Vale side. It was in no way a vintage performance from
the Wizards, who suffered from having no specialist number eight
forward with both Richard Morris and Robbie Morgan carrying
injuries, and were further handicapped by an early injury to Liam
Gadd that eventually forced him off just after the interval. |
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| Meanwhile the visitors had their own injury problems
exacerbated by the withdrawal of hooker Richard Wilkes shortly before
the kick-off. |
On a day on which the strong, swirling wind was always going to be a
factor, the Wizards could thank prolific goalkicker Jamie Davies for this
victory. While Davies racked up twelve points with the boot, the Steelmen
had Chris Anderson, Aaron Bramwell and Bryan Shelbourne all attempting to
find the target, with Anderson's straightforward conversion of Andrew
Bevan's try their only success amongst several eminently kickable
opportunities that went drifting well wide of the posts.
After quarter of an hour, it was the Wizards, facing the strong wind, who
opened the scoring. Having gained the upper hand in the lines-out, it came
as no surprise when the visitors once again surrendered possession on
their own throw, and scrum-half Chris Morgans was quick to pounce on a
loose ball and send the ball out to the backs. Fly-half Davies sent out a
long pass to Paul Bamsey, whose pace and angle of running committed two
defenders, leaving just enough space for Richard Carter to finish
superbly. Davies' added the extras, and while he also found the target
with a subsequent penalty, the remainder of the half went to the visitors,
with Tongan flanker Nio Aiono posing the biggest threat with his strong
running. The first beneficiary was full-back Andrew McLaughlan, who
followed that with a second in almost exactly the same place after some
intense forward pressure close to the line. Bevan then crossed at the
posts for the conversion to give the visitors a 17-10 lead at the
interval.
The third quarter was all Aberavon as the back got well on top in all
phases, although, ironically, it was from an Ebbw Vale attack, that the
Wizards got back on terms. As the Steelmen attempted to conjure a
threequarter move off slow ball, a long pass that was telegraphed to such
an extent that the entire crowd could see it coming was intercepted by
Paul Bamsey, who was never going to be caught in a straight foot-race for
the line. Davies slotted the simple conversion, and it set the ball
rolling for a purple patch that took the game beyond the visitors' reach.
Left wing Steve Davies broke through after an amazing run up the middle
from Chris Wells, and Carter got his second with an amazing combination of
skills, having to turn to take a wayward pass, accelerate outside the
first defender, chip over the second in limited space, and then kick ahead
again before regathering to ground the ball just short of the dead-ball
line.
Amongst all this Davies' right boot was also making its telling
contribution, and while McLaughlin went over for his third try after
another good attack for the |
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| visitors, it was never going to be enough to overturn the result,
bringing only the satisfaction of having the last word as it narrowed the margin to
ten points. |
Steve Davies try
(Photo by Mike Greenslade - More
HERE) |
Right on full time another promising Ebbw Vale attack ended with Aiono
plunging over in a tackle, only for the nearby touch-judge to somewhat
controversially indicate that he'd knocked the ball forward. The final
whistle went immediately afterwards, and as the teams trooped off the
pitch the Wizards were reflecting on a victory achieved, but a performance
well below what has become the norm at the Talbot Athletic Ground. Coach
Nicky Lloyd summed it up afterwards, also offering a valid positive
outlook - “We're critical of the way we played, but we still got the win.
It's a measure of how far we've come in that we would have lost a game
like that during the early part of the season.”
Lloyd is quite right. During a season that has gone between extremes, a
win like this one would have been greeted with relief before Christmas.
Now it's greeted with a certain amount of disappointment. Now, with a
congested fixture list between now and the end of the season, Lloyd and
fellow coach Ian King will be forced to dig deep into squad resources in a
bid to go all the way in the cup.
Paul Williams
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