Fixture

Croesy travelled to Abertwssyg and continued their winning start to the season with a comfortable 30 points to 9 victory. The team contained a number of changes from the previous weeks victory against Blackwood, due to injuries and unavailability, but the strength of the team illustrated the progress over the past 12 months.

Abertwssyg started the game on the front foot, but were unable to convert their early dominance into points as the Croesy defence held firm. By the end of the game the Croesy tryline had still not been crossed since the start of the league season.  Eventually Crowsy wereable to gain a foothold in the Abertwssyg half and thwir efforts were soon rrwarded as Abwrtwssyg infringed at the ruck enabling outside half Haydn Simons to kick the first points of the game. This was soon followed by another penalty goal as Haydn continued with his perfect place kicking record since the start of the league season.

The Croesy pack began to exert their dominance, particularly in the scrum, where the front row of Craig Price, Josh Burns and Dan Goode had their opponents in deep trouble. The dominance was reflected by a scrum on the Abertwssyg 22 metre line which was pushed back fully 20 metres before the referee awarded Croesy a penalty when many thought a penalty try was coming. The dominance soon paid off though as No.8 Steve Thomas soon forced his way over from close range. The try was unsurprisingly converted by Haydn Simons.

With their pack disintegrating Abertwssyg were forced to make early changes replacing both props. This did not however stop Croesy producing more good ball from the scrum and Haydn Simons was soon able to capitalise on a large gap in the opponents defence on halfway, which left him with a 50 metre run to the tryline leaving the Abertwssyg full back rooted to the spot as he rounded him for the try, which he then converted.

Croesy at 20-0 appeared to be in control, however the needless concession of two kickable penalties, converted by the Abwrtwssyg inside centre, allowed them to keep a slight foothold in the game. Normal service was resumed when Haydn Simons kicked his third penalty goal when Abertwssyg were caught offside on their own 10 metre line, his 11th successful kick in succession. Abertwssyg still had time to kick their third penalty on the stroke of halftime, when a Croesyceiliog player was adjudged to have tackled a player without the ball close to the posts.

With a 23-9 lead at half-time the Croesy coaches emphasised to the players the need to keep to maintain their structure. Unfortunately the second half did not live up to the promise of the first as the game became scrappy and mistakes crept in. Abertwssyg defended stoutly and sometimes illegally, resulting in two yellow cards, as the Croesy players were perhaps guilty of over-trying. The half was probably summed up when Haydn Simons missed his first place kick of the season, although the Croesy touch judge Jamie Crowley felt that it had been successful only to be over-ruled by the referee.

Croesy did eventually score their third try through Garin Eldred, capping off a very industrious display by the back-row forward. Unfortunately, with only a few minutes left Croesy were unable to score a fourth try, which would have secured a bonus point victory. It is perhaps a measure of the hunger within the squad that many were disappointed not to gain the bonus point, despite Abertwssygs strength at home, evidenced by their victory the previous Saturday over a strong Ynysddu team. 

It would be hard to look past Haydn Simons for the man of the match, but Garin Eldred perhaps shaded it with a hard-qorking display. Croesy's next game is at home this Saturday to newly promoted Caldicot, who will be a further stern test for the team.