Fixture

Abercarn were flying high in the league coming into this fixture, second in the table despite only being promoted last season. Croesy were also looking forward to the challenge coming into the fixture, having only won one game less than their opponents and with a game in han

On a cold night,  the opening minutes were characterised by handling errors from both sides with a number of dropped balls and wayward passes. It was clear that Croesy had the edge in the scrums that followed, and they won a couple of penalties in quick succession which they failed to convert into points, with Haydn Simons uncharacteristically, missing a number of kicks at goal. A sequence of scrums near to the Abercarn try line lead to a number of pick and drives, before conceding a penalty for holding on - the result of some resolute defence from the Abercarn pack.

Much of the first half was played in the middle third of the field, but with Croesy edging the territory and possession battle. In the latter stages, Abercarn entered the Croesy 22 with a penalty which they kicked to the corner. From the lineout, they executed a set move at the front but turned the ball over near the line. The Croesy backs reacted quickly, shifting it wide to the outside backs who nearly went the length of the field before being stopped by a cover tackle from the Abercarn full back. The move broke down and the referee blew his whistle for half time, after a scoreless first half.

The first half demonstrated that Croesy pack were dominating the scrums and were winning the collisions, both in attack and defence, which was giving them territory and possession, but they were having to work hard to beat an Abercarn side who showed up well in defence

The second half saw Croesy turn their dominance of possession and territory into points. An early penalty from  Haydn Simons saw them take a 3-0 lead. This was shortly followed by their first try of the evening, a well worked try, with good hands from the backs,who had looked dangerous all evening with ball in hand and forwards, putting  outside half Haydn Simons over in the corner. The conversion was missed so it remained 8-0.

It was not too long before the forwards got in the act when the Croesy scrum was rewarded with a pushover try, the touchdown coming from No.8 Steve Thomas. This was no more than their pack deserved as they had dominated the scrum for most of the evening. The try went unconverted but Haydn Simons  soon kicked a second penalty to make it 16-0.

Abercarn finally  got on the scoreboard in the last ten minutes as they kicked a penalty into the Croesy 22, following a yellow card for blindside flanker Garin Eldred, and executed a catch and drive to make it 16-5.

In the last 5 minutes, Croesy suffered a second yellow card, with lock and captain Micki Witts being sin binned for a retaliatory swing at an Abercarn player right in front of the referee. However, there was little time for Abercarn to capitalise and the referee blew his whistle shortly after to draw a close to what had been a full on competitive fixture

The win for Croesyceiliog sees them close the gap on league leaders Pontypool Utd in an extremely competitive league with 11 points separating the top 6 teams.