Action Replay (Carmarthen Quins Programme Notes)

Aberavon 24-27 Llandovery
by Paul Williams

Cup-winners and Premiership title-chasers Llandovery picked up a valuable bonus-point victory at the Talbot Athletic Ground but were made to work a lot harder than expected by an Aberavon team that suddenly rediscovered something resembling their true capability after a string of disappointing and, in some cases, inexplicable defeats. Indeed, this was a match that could have gone either way, and it was the high-flying visitors who were relieved to see the ball kicked out of play as they clung onto their narrow lead.

For the Wizards, the disappointing sting of defeat was somewhat overshadowed by the positives inherent in their collective performance. The recent return of Ashton Evans from an almost season-long spell out injured reached its conclusion with the popular back-row man producing a non-stop eighty minutes of hard work and intelligent play that must have cheered Jason Hyatt and his coaching team. There were defensive heroics from the back three of Andrews, Banfield and Jones, while skipper Joe Gage led from the front while finding a willing accomplice alongside him in fellow centre Callum Carson.

Yet the visitors led 10-nil at the end of the first quarter, somewhat against the run of play as the Wizards piled on the pressure and did everything but breach the Drovers’ defence. Instead, two incursions into home territory yielded two unconverted tries, with experienced wing Aaron Warren and centre Rhodri Jones touching down from rare opportunities to put points on the board. The Wizards finally got off the mark when a five-metre lineout quickly became a maul and, while the home pack quickly organised themselves and began to drive relentlessly forward, Luke Davies at the helm burst away and crashed over for James Davies to convert.

At 7-10 heading for the interval it was anyone’s match, but on the stroke of half-time a shambolic period of play in the Aberavon 22, during which the ball somehow remained in Llandovery hands despite some erratic handling, led to lock Chris Long claiming a try converted by fly-half Jack Maynard.

The second half began with Davies and Maynard trading penalties to make it 10-20, and it was well into the final quarter that the Wizards’ endeavour brought deserved reward when Carson broke through in midfield before offloading to Rhodri Cole who went over close to the posts for Davies to convert. The visitors struck back a few minutes later when a rare defensive lapse allowed them to counter-attack from deep, and again some ambitious passing somehow stuck and veteran scrum-half Lee Rees crossed for Maynard to convert and restore the ten-point lead.

There was more to come, however, as the Wizards battered away at the Llandovery defence in pursuit of, at the very least, a losing bonus-point. Eventually replacement centre Brad Roderick accelerated through the narrowest of gaps in midfield, showing good pace and strength to cross near the posts. Davies’ conversion took the margin back down to three points, and the Wizards continued to hammer away in search of a winning score, while the Drovers’ defence worked overtime and were eventually able to keep their line intact until the ball went out of play to bring an absorbing contest to an end.