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Abergavenny made the short trip to old rivals Llanhilleth  on Saturday with the winner being rewarded with a place in the last eight of the Swalec bowl. A tough encounter was expected and the large travelling support were not to be disappointed with a full blooded encounter which went down to the wire before Aber took the spoils with a dominant second half display.

The Abergavenny side showed a few changes from the previous week with Adams, James and Charles in the front row Luke Williams and Will Evans in the boiler house, Dan Beavan Josh Davies and Rhys Dawe making up the back row. Rhob Connick and Rhod Webster returned at half back Dan Smith and Nathan Byrne teamed up in the center with Will Williams, Antony Squires and Josh Parr as the back three.

From the start Aber took the initiative and attacked the home side keeping the ball and going through numerous phases but were met with a very resolute defence. The home side then began to play good rugby with their outside half kicking intelligently and keeping Aber pinned in their own half. The pressure exerted by Llanhilleth was eventually rewarded when they kicked a penalty to take the lead.

From the restart once again Llan went straight back on the attack and soon aided by some poor Abergavenny handling and lacklustre defence scored an unconverted try to increase their lead . This second score seemed to wake Aber up and they started to up the tempo of the game and began to pressurise the home defence which eventually cracked allowing prop Jay Adams to score converted by Josh Parr to leave the half time score 8-7 to the home side.

Early in the second half the home side increased their lead with a penalty but this was soon cancelled out by two penalties kicked by Nathan Williams who had come on at full back to give Aber the lead for the first time.

Abergavenny were now well on top with replacements Nathan Thomas, Alex Howes along with Curtis Price making big inroads into the Llanhilleth half and eventually they stretched their lead with a try by no 8 Josh Davies .

The home side once again showed their resilience and they managed to score a second try which they converted to tie the score 18-18 with ten minutes to play. Aber now introduced their last replacement Prop Rob Lothian and they now started to squeeze the home scrum which resulted in a penalty kicked by Nathan Williams to regain the lead.

From the restart another scrum penalty gave Aber a line out deep in the opposition half and after a series of close quarter drives scrum half Rhob Conick darted over for the final score converted by Williams to give Aber victory by 28-18.

Abergavenny are now hoping for a home draw in the quarter finals but their mind is now firmly fixed on next weeks tough league encounter with Machen at Bailey Park next week 2.30 kick off, Aber Quins are also at home to Pill Harriers come along and support your local boys .