Match Report

Aberavon 12 - Neath 29

Talbot Athlectic Ground, Sat 30th Jan 10 KO: 14.30

ABERAVON 12 points NEATH 29 points
Battling Neath confounded those pessimists amongst their supporters with a solid winning performance at the Talbot Athletic Ground.
In doing so, Neath completed a seasonal double over Aberavon and increased their lead over Swansea at the top of the Premiership table by a point courtesy of a vital bonus point in injury time with their fourth try of the match.
After the thrills and spills of that scintillating Boxing Day extravaganza at The Gnoll, the biggest crowd of the season seen at the Talbot Athletic Ground gathered for the replay on a frosty January afternoon.
Neath, belied their reputation as slow starters, and opened the game with a Gareth McCarthy penalty in the first minute when Aberavon transgressed at the tackle area which was generally well-policed by referee Gwyn Morris (Cardiff).
An early scrum broke up in a flurry of fists as the two packs renewed acquaintances after a month. It suggested that Neath are in no mood for messing about after their unsavoury Wanderers experience and the referee issued cards to Aberavon prop Lloyd Howell and opposite number Martin Jones - a yellow one on his birthday.
This necessitated flanker Mike Collins taking a rest to allow young prop James Reeves to reinforce the front row but shortly afterwards play was halted as the Skewen student was stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle.
With the breeze behind them, Neath had much the better of the first half and soon got the first try when concerted forward pressure and good play by the impressive McCarthy ended in birthday boy Martin Jones scoring close to the posts, McCarthy's conversion making it 10-nil.
Neath kept up the pressure and ought to have extended their lead but a wild pass went to ground with two players completely unmarked and set to walk over on the right. McCarthy was late tackled as he kicked to the try-line but it went un-noticed, then Alec Jenkins was freed on the left but the cover defence reached him in the nick of time.
Eventually it told though and, after a succession of attacking scrums, scrum-half Kevin Farrell went blind and sent wing Kevin James over. McCarthy's conversion from the touch line was sperb and made for a 17-0 half-time advantage.
As was to be expected, Aberavon came out with renewed zest in the second half and they opened their account with a touchline try by lively hooker Marc Breeze from a well-rehearsed move that Neath should have been alert to.
With the wind, Aberavon now had territorial advantage but, despite the binning of Lee Evans for a high tackle on a downward-bound Avonite, Neath were sharper and a quickly taken penalty by McCarthy saw hooker Ashleigh James display supreme footballing skills to free Nathan Brew who sent fit-again full-back Kevin Morgan away for the third try - his first for the club.
22-7 down, Aberavon could not be written off and Breeze literally crawled over for a second try that replacement Jamie Murphy converted from wide out. Aberavon now threw everything at Neath but, to a man, the Neath forwards battled for everything, the defensive line was disciplined and held firm.
A couple of over-cooked lineout throws helped Neath break out, replacement Richard Smith got away on the right, Neath switched left where co-replacement Gerwyn Price made a telling impact, then headed right again for Brew to burst through and score at the posts for McCarthy to deliver the coup-de-grace.

ABERAVON - P. Bamsey; S. Davies, W. Price, B. John, Richard Thomas; J. Davies (repl J. Murphy 52), D. Pritchard (repl R. Webb 58); L. Howell (repl N. White 60), M. Breeze, A. Edwards (repl I. Poley 75), I. Moore (capt) (repl C. Gittins 75), G. Ronan, R. Gallagher (repl N. White 5-15; Ben Thomas 52), R. Morris, D. Thomas.
NEATH - K. Morgan; K. James (R. Smith), N. Brew, S. Thomas, A. Jenkins; G. McCarthy, K. Farrell (T. James); N. Downs, A. James (G. Price), M. Jones; E. Evans (C. Price), N. Edwards; M. Collins (J. Reeves, G. Price, H. Pugh), L. Evans, G. Gravell (capt).
Referee : Mr. Gwyn Morris (Cardiff)