Fixture

In one of the few fixtures to be played due to the weather Nantymoel RFC drew with league leaders Aberavon Quins 15 all.

Nantymoel playing down the slope but against gale force winds took an early lead through full back Andrew Thomas who scored his fifth try of the season which was converted by centre Shaun Webber to give Nantymoel an early 7 – 0 lead.

However, with both Nantymoel’s first choice props missing the Quins were dominating the scrums which lead to an early injury to David Jones which saw Wayne Hill make his first appearance for the 1^st after impressing in the games he has played for the 2nds.

The Quins then closed the gap to 7 – 3 with a penalty in front of the posts. Then just before half time Nantymoel lost their second prop when Sean Williams limped off injured which resulted in the scrum going passive much to the annoyance of the Quins.

At the start of the second half Webber increased the lead for Nantymoel with a penalty  to make the score 10 – 3 but immediately from the kick off the Quins but some sustained pressure in the Nantymoel 22 which results in their winger sliding over in the corner to take the score to 10 – 8.

Nantymoel soon increased their lead after a delightful chip over the top by outside half and Captain Ryan Davies caught the Quins defence flat footed. Racing through full back Thomas was first to the ball and kicked towards the try line and seemed to be obstructed but flying winger Mark Chapman was on hand to just about win the race to dive on the ball to score Nantymoel’s second try of the game. Unfortunately, the conversion from Webber narrowly missed to take the score to 15 – 8.

In what was atrocious conditions the Quins backs could not make passes stick with dropped passes and knock on. However, the handling of the ball by the Nantymoel back line was excellent and a well worked move nearly saw full back Thomas score under the posts which would have sealed the game but thinking he wasn’t going to make it he threw a pass out towards winger Rhys Bevan which was knocked down by a retreating defender and chance had passed.

With the chance to have secured the win lost the Quins piled further pressure on the Nantymoel line looking for the converted try that would tie the score. And despite keeping the big Quins pack out for the majority of the game they managed to crash over from close range by the posts for an easy 7 point try to leave the score 15 all.

This was a hard fought 2 points for Nantymoel and even though they had chances to win it they must be impressed with their performance as they could have just as easily lost the game.

Nantymoel are now up to sixth in the league on 23 points and travel to Aberavon Green Stars RFC for their next fixture on 05 December 2015.