Fixture

Abergavenny made the short journey to local rivals Usk to a play a league fixture for the first time in three decades and came away with a well deserved 25-17 victory.

Once again the Aber side showed many changes from the previous week with no fewer than eleven changes to the squad. The front row of Nick Gethin Ieaun James and Jamie Knight were backed up by Will Evans and Luke Williams and the back row was Dan Beavan, coach Nathan Thomas and Dan Smith normally a center but forced into emergency duty in the pack. The half backs were Ryan Joyce and Rhodri Webster, Nathan Byrne and Ryan Williams forming a new center partnership and the back three were Will Williams, Dan Hayman and Dan Dunmore. The game kicked off in front of a large partisan crowd which  added an edge to the game but it was the away side who settled quicker and controlled the early part of the match. After keeping the ball through several phases of play a deft chip over the Usk defence by fly half Webster was gathered by winger Williams who beat the defenders to score the opening try. Abergavenny kept the pressure on Usk from the restart and were rewarded with a penalty converted by Dan Hayman to give Aber a 0-8 lead . The home side were not to be out done and they began to put the away side under pressure and from a turnover on the half way line they moved the ball swiftly out to the wing who,took his try well. At this point the home side had a yellow card and to their credit Abergavenny took advantage with a well taken try by flanker Dan Smith converted by Hayman to stretch the lead to 5-15. From the restart Aber ran the ball out of their twenty two only for the ball to be spilled and the Usk flanker to scoop it up and run in a opportunist try which was converted to leave the half time score 12-15 and the game finely balanced.

At the start of the second Usk were most definitely in the ascendancy puting Aber under tremendous pressure particularly at scrum time which eventually resulted in Abergavenny being reduced to thirteen men due to yellow cards for persistent infringements. Aber soaked up a huge amount of pressure but refused to give in and the arrival of veteran hooker Gareth Williams and rookie prop Mat Charles steadied the ship and they eventually played their way into the opposition half. Abergavenny now recovered their attacking mojo and began to exert some pressure of their own and were eventually rewarded with a fine try expertly finished by Dan Dunmore converted by Hayman to give the away side a12-22 lead. Aber soon stretched their lead with a penalty and with the game now looking safe bought on replacements Matt Sevenoaks and Josh van Mael who were soon forced into defensive duties as Usk threw every thing at Aber in the dying minutes and were eventually rewarded with a well finished try by winger Bear Hazel to leave the final score 17-25 to Abergavenny.

Next week Aber return to Bailey park for the visit of Abertysswg Falcons come along and support the boys .