By Paul Williams
Aberavon’s start to the 2026-27 season continued to disappoint as they travelled to the home of one of, in recent years, the more consistently successful clubs competing at club level. To be fair, the Wizards’ team selection could best be described as ‘experimental’ as the coaching team attempt to balance the introduction of new blood recruited during the close season alongside the more established and experienced squad members.
Add a growing injury list to the mix and top it off with a series of tough fixtures against settled quality opposition and an air of inevitability is the result.
And so the Wizards, following a couple of heavy defeats that erased a bright opening fixture against Bridgend, were always up against it against the Drovers, who themselves were keen to improve on an unusually sluggish start to their own campaign, and who hit the ground running against a team who were still largely getting to know one another.
It hardly came as a surprise, given the run of play, when half time arrived with the home side leading 26-nil thanks to tries from Jac Davies, Tom Hughes. Harry Thomas and Isaac Murray-McGregor and three conversions from Ioan Hughes.
The onslaught continued after the break, and the clock was approaching the hour mark with the scoreboard standing at 57-nil when Aberavon finally got off the mark and, fittingly, it was one of the recent recruits to the Aberavon cause who got the ball rolling, so to speak. Flanker Elis Cox touched down amidst a pile of bodies, and fly-half Charlie Thomas added the conversion.
A couple of minutes later prolific try-scorer Frankie Jones, playing at centre on this occasion, used his pace and strength to good effect as he touched down for Thomas to again convert. Then, with ten minutes left, Cox repeated his earlier feat and the trusty left boot of Thomas again sent the conversion over the bar to make it 57-21.
Inevitably the home side had the last word, with the score having advanced to 66-21 just before the final whistle, and while no-one can deny it was a tough one to swallow, the Wizards will need to look for a bigger helping of the defiance shown during that brief period late in the second half that yielded 21 points in rapid succession.
