After weeks of warm weather training and our front rowers throwing the ball about like a bunch of Fijian 7’s players, it seemed appropriate that the rugby God’s opened the heavens for our first pre-season outing. We made the journey down to fellow East 3B contenders St Julians to dust off the cobwebs and make an eager return to the field.
It didn't take long for the Aber front 5 to forget about their 30 metre passing antics in training and got back to what they do best; pushing, carrying and tackling.
The first 20 was a cagey affair as both teams were trying to find their feet after a long off season. The hits were as brutal as ever and Aberbargoed were the first to receive a casualty in the shape of second rower Gavin Thomas after only 5 minutes. Aberbargoed had to use their one and only sub much sooner than hoped - if nothing else it would test the boys fitness to play a full 80 in the first game back.
St Julians started strong and were rewarded with the opening try of the game which went unconverted. Despite their strong start, there were lots of handling errors and shapeless attacks and defence by both teams - Liam Matthews picked up a loose ball with a dog legged defence in front of him and took the opportunity with the ease of an open goal and dotted down between the sticks, which he converted.
Due to the amount of handling errors there were lots of scrums which were evenly contested by two big sets of forwards. St Julians began to get the edge and after a lovely pick up from the base by their number 8, the ball went through the hands down the blind side and sent their winger over in the corner. The second 20 saw Aberbargoed gain in confidence and started putting the ball through the hands allowing winger Alex Hope to make a lovely break down the touchline - with Aberbargoed in behind their defence, a couple of quick phases didn’t allow St Julians defence to reset, number 8 and skipper Andrew Trace took advantage as he picked up from the back of a ruck to stroll over. Aberbargoed went in at half time 14-10 up.
Aberbargoed began the 2nd half strong and after only a few phases found themselves up on St Julians line where the skipper again found the ball at his feet at the back of a ruck where he picked up and powered over from short range. Aberbargoed extended their lead to 21-10.
Another injury to Aberbargoed forced another change and a complete reshuffle to the back line. A 17 times retired 54 year old coach made an unwanted return to action. While Aberbargoed were figuring out who was to play where, St Julians made a batch of changes and a number of fresh legs were ready to challenge the tiring Aberbargoed pack. The next 10 minutes were dominated by St Julians as they kept battering the Aberbargoed defence. The pressure was telling as Aberbargoed were camped on their line and began giving a number of penalties away. Phase after phase St Julians pushed but Aberbargoeds defence stood strong until inevitably they found the extra number and crossed the line. 21-15 Aberbargoed lead.
The final 20 seemed destined to be dominated by the fresher St Julians XV as Aberbargoed looked tired walking back to the halfway line. The kick off was taken deep into their 22 and a tired chase from Aberbargoed allowed them to make a clean break making a good 45 meters without being touched - Abers covering defence finally brought him down, and this was the closest St Julians would get to the Aberbargoed line from here on in.
Aberbargoed found some energy in the reserves and the shackles were off. Some beautiful phases of play put Liam Matthews in enough space for him to work his magic and after a couple of side steps crossed the line under the sticks to put Aber 28-15 up. The confidence was clearly on a high as they received the kick off and decided to run from deep. The Aber pack had finally broken down the St Julians forwards and Aber started to make good yardage down the middle. Whether it was big ball carrying runs or cute off loads in the tackle, the Aber pack were consistently making inroads into St Julians half. Lee Hagerty was now able to bring his strong back line into play as the home teams defence were getting sucked in. A couple of powerful runs from Abers teenaged depudent Joe Dyer and Aber were again on the home teams line. Lee Hagerty came on to the ball at pace from short range and there was no stopping the big 10. Aber now had a commanding lead 33-15.
It was more of the same after the next kick off where the Aber pack dominated the gain line, quick clean ball again gave Lee Hagerty the time and space to pick his pass sending winger Alex Hope on yet another galloping run down the wing. Joe Dyers efforts were rewarded when scrum half Aaron Matthews spotted a mismatch down the blind side, Joe’s pace and strength proving too much for the tired St Julians defence as he run in from 30 metres.
The final phase of play gave Aberbargoed one last chance to attack from deep. Lee Hagerty spotted the St Julians winger flat in the line and a deft chip, which he can have only learned from his big cousin, allowed back rower come centre come full back come winger Matthew Evans to regather. Lee was quick to provide support and Matthew gave a lovely off load which put Lee in sight of the line - unfortunately it was 60 meters out and Lee thought better of it.
After a few more quick phases of play, Huw Myrick, who had been running sublime supporting lines all game, finally found himself on the end of a try scoring pass and deservedly dotted down.
This was a very satisfying result for the boys who got stronger as the game wore on. A special mention to the forwards, particularly the front 5, who scrummaged, rucked, tackled, carried brilliantly for 80 minutes.
Man of the match by unanimous decision by all 3 coaches goes to Joe Dyer.
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