Abergavenny Quins 9 Gwernyfed Athletic 18
GWERNYFED Athletic continued their highly successful season when they travelled to play Abergavenny Quins in the semi-final of the Pontypool and District Cup.
With the Talgarth club’s second string sitting atop of Division One of the Gwent, Newport and Pontypool League, having already beaten the Quins in a League game, they were probably slight favourites going into the game.
It was the home team though that went into an early lead with a penalty although, in the 12th minute, winger Barry Price galloped thirty yards to the line for a try following an initial break by Gareth East, playing at full back due to Jamie Muir’s self-imposed incapacitation.
However, Gwernyfed struggled at the set piece throughout the game against the larger home pack. They were, though, somewhat fortunate that Abergavenny’s focus was distracted by what they saw as the limitations of the referee and an insistence on letting him know of their concerns, so that two yellow cards saw them down to thirteen players at half time and, early in the second half, their linesman was sent off for verbal abuse of the referee.
Nevertheless, the lead changed hands a couple of times through penalty kicks and, going into the last quarter, the Quins held a narrow 9-8 lead, with the wet conditions causing a number of attacks by the Gwernyfed three quarters to break down.
Their perseverance, though, paid off as a maul in the Quins’ 22 saw veteran Jonny Davies steal possession and offload to substitute winger Matt Tucker, who ran under the posts unopposed for a try easily converted by former Abergavenny player Gareth Dodd.
The home team responded well and laid siege to the Gwernyfed line for ten minutes but resolute defence kept them out and, following a relieving kick, Abergavenny were penalised, allowing Dodd to show his prowess, as he slotted a 50 yard kick between the uprights. This put Gwernyfed two scores ahead and effectively finished the game.
This was not, it has to be said, one of the best performances by the Athletic but continues their run of success this season as they look forward to the Cup Final in April.
The innovative idea of a joint captaincy of Barry Price and Gareth East, supplemented by the sage touchline stewardship of Andrew Torrance, appears to be working well, while experienced players such as Mark Price, Anthony Workman and the aforementioned Davies and Dodd are clearly helping to bring on the younger players in the team, some of whom were due to play last night (Wednesday) in a Mid District Cup match at home to Hirwaun.