Fixture

WE traveled up the Neath Valley on a dark and wet day which was not conclusive to open rugby and came away with a hard earned win against a resurgent Crynant club which had won their last two league fixtures, one which was a good win at Banwen where its not easy.

Things did not start well for us when we lost two players during the warm up their were full back and goal kicker Nigel James and sub hooker Neil Sainsbury but we were covered with extra players traveling so we had a full compliment of players. 

Crynant kicked off down the slight slope with wind advantage and they had some early pressure but the ball was like a bar of soap and passes were going to ground by both teams. The Crynant pack were a big outfit like ourselves and the first couple of scrums were even but we did manage to get the upper hand and win some good lineout ball.

After 25 minutes we won the ball in midfield and worked it left fullback Gareth Kingman drew the last defender and gave a good pass to wing Luke McDonnell who crossed for a unconverted try. From the restart we knocked the ball on and a player in front of the ball played it in an offside position which resulted in a penalty kick which they missed. Both teams tried to play some open rugby but conditions were getting worse with the rain. There was not a lot that went on for the remainder of the half which ended with us 5 points in front.

We then kicked off the second half with wind advantage and began to get a foothold in the Crynant half we then won a good ball and moved it left to Josh Thomas who beat a couple of defenders to cross for a good try under the posts which he then converted.

Five minutes later we then gave away a soft try when we won a scrum but instead of kick down field in the wind we lost the ball in a tackle and they hacked on to the line we failed to regather the ball on our try line and a chasing player fell on it to score a unconverted try.

After the set back we then lost Nathan Healey with a hamstring pull and we also replaced our two props. Both teams were guilty of dropping the ball on numerous occasions but no one could take advantage of any mistakes.

Crynant kicked deep into our 22 Kingman gathered the ball raced between two attackers made good ground and found some support players the ball then found Jonathan Howells who raced away for a great try under the posts for Thomas to convert. for the last score of the game. Try has we could we could not get the fourth try for our bonus point because of the slippery ball, but this win keeps us 7 points ahead of second place Bryncethin.

Next week we are at Home to Briton Ferry RFC kick off 2-30pm all support welcome.