Aberbargoed went to Blaina with one place between them in the league 3rd v 4th. A good start from the visitors saw the boot of Rhys Hagerty take them up to the home side’s 22 Blaina secured their line out which in turn they cleared, the first scrum of the game went to Blaina but Aberbargoed coped well against the heavier pack with excellent work from Aberbargoed's back row. The first quarter saw the game played between the 22 meter lines the Blaina forwards put them in a good position which resulted in the first points coming from a drop goal 3-0.
Aberbargoed didn't let this dent their confidence with Rhys Hagerty making a good break into the home sides half, however, the pass was not collected and the ball went out of play. Aberbargoed kept the work rate up with the visitor’s backs moving the ball well, Liam Matthews broke the line he passed onto Jason Prosser who drew his man he then gave it to Chris Jenkins who still had work to do but showed good strength to score the try, 2 points were added by the boot of Rhys Hagerty and the scoreboard read 3-7. The game restarted and the Blaina forwards reclaimed the ball and went through several phases but they were denied the try because of excellent defensive work from Aberbargoed; another attempt at the drop goal from Blaina just missed the posts, Blaina were awarded a penalty for not releasing and they went for the posts this time securing the points 6-7.
Aberbargoed were forced into a change with Chris Jenkins having to leave the field due to injury this saw Jason Prosser going into the centre and Luke Kemp coming onto the wing; another penalty from the home side saw the score board at 9-7. Aberbargoed kept working hard with big hits in the tackle from Rhys Davies and excellent work from Wayne Hughes. Another injury to young prop Karl Adams meant he also had to leave the field, on came Steffan Jerimiah, unfortunetly due to this change the game had to go to passive scrums. Hard work in the loose saw several phases of play which resulted in a well-deserved try for Wayne Hughes, who was at every phase of play, the conversion just missed and the score was now 9-12. With the Aberbargoed forwards giving their backs a great platform to work off Alex hope moved the ball across the back line with Liam Matthews putting Luke Kemp in for their third try, Rhys Hagerty added the extra 2 points 9-19, Blaina replied with a penalty (12-19) the half ended with Liam Matthews scoring in the corner the conversion was successful halftime score 12-26.
The second half started and saw the home side applying early pressure on the visitors this pattern went on for some time but excellent defensive work from Aberbargoed kept them out, Blaina had a scrum 15 meters off Aberbargoed's line, but good work from Craig Williams in the loose forced the turn over which Rhys Hagerty cleared up to half way, however the Blaina forwards kept the pressure on which resulted in a yellow card to Jamie Clark. Aberbargoed were down to 14 players and with the extra man advantage Blaina made the pressure pay with a try out wide, the conversion went wide and score was now 17-26; Blaina would have scored more but for excellent defensive work from Aberbargoed, even with a man still sin binned. With time up on the yellow card Aberbargoed were back to full strength, Blaina were on the attack but good work from Craig Williams to hold up the ball saw a scrum to the visitors which was cleared into the Blaina half. Aberbargoed moved the ball well which saw Rhys Edwards keeping up his scoring rate of a try in all 5 games this season, Rhys Hagerty confidently added the 2 points 17-33 full time. An excellent defensive performance in the second half from Aberbargoed with a well-deserved man of the match award going to Wayne Hughes.
Next week Aberbargoed entertain Nantyfyllon RFC in the 3rd Round of the Bowl on Saturday 29th October.
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