Cwmbran's recent good results came to an end at Abercarn on Saturday in a game that could have gone either way right up until the final whistle. Both sides played with a great deal of commitment in attack and defence throughout with the home side shading the second half to just about deserve the win.
The Crows started the better first half having the upper hand in the forward exchanges, especially the scrum and forward carries, fronted by Mark Cox, Gavin Cook, Jamie Williams, Micki Witts and Mike Lang. With ten minutes gone strong runs by Sean Clarke and Chris Wannell opened the defence for Cwmbran captain Gareth Roberts to cut an angle through a powerful defensive wall and score a try which Wannell converted. Ten minutes later the visitors found themselves trailing as Abercarn firstly kicked a penalty and then scored a try by their prop - finishing off a series of drives close to the Cwmbran line.
Powerful Cwmbran centre pairing Dave Thomas and Mike Vann continually crossed the gain line and tackled strongly, the latter back after a lengthy time on the side, however, they got little change out of a strong home defence. Just before the interval Chris Wannell kicked a penalty to reclaim the lead for Cwmbran, 10 points to 8.
Second half both sides battled away with Abercarn starting to win better quality set piece ball and their threequarters playing a better percentage game. Some Cwmbran players on the other hand sometimes tried too hard to make passes and offloads that were never going to happen. From one such breakdown Abercarn ran in a converted try and after goaling a penalty led 18 - 10. Both sides had players yellow carded for seperate offences and with fifteen minutes of play left centre Dave Thomas kicked a penalty to put Cwmbran in a bonus point position and within striking distance of a win. A drop goal by Abercarn in the dying second snatched both of those possibilities away. Despite the disappointment of losing, coaches Bailey and Kirkup will be pleased by the commitment of their players but not some of the decision making. Next Saturday Cwmbran will be home to Chepstow and will strive to pull back the couple of league positions they dropped after this result.
Cwmbran Youth and Cwmbran athletic had mixed results the former having an excellent 38 - 3 away win at Caerleon and the latter narrowly losing 15 - 25 at home to a powerful Pill Harriers team.