News

19 February 2018 / Club News

Bridgend Athletic 20 Aberavon Quins 8 Div 1 West Central – Sat 17th Feb 2018

Bridgend Athletic continued their winning sequence of 8 consecutive league victories with a hard-fought double 20-8 victory over Aberavon Quins. It was their 3rd double of the season and by the same margin of 3 tries to 1 as at the Quins ground in December. The Athletics’ 386 league points and 52 league tries in 15 fixtures are the highest to date this season in Div1 West Central.

 

Head coach John Apsee’s pre-match team talk was simple. Win it for Fooksy. Prop Wayne “The Train” Fooks was making a remarkable 350th senior appearance for the Athletic over a 20-year period.

 

The Quins with a breeze behind them kicked off and caught the ball. They went through many phases causing the Athletic to concede a penalty goaled by centre Marc Sheppard without the Athletic touching the ball. From the restart the Athletic regained possession and this time the Quins were penalised. The Athletic elected for outside half Luke Bevan to kick to touch and back themselves with a driving line out. Hooker Nathan Holman duly found No 8 Sean Williams with the throw and the Athletic drove over the try line at pace for flanker and captain Ben Howe to secure his third touchdown and the clubs' 50th of the league campaign this season.

 

The Athletic continued to press and when failures to capitalise on penalties from 5 metre line outs and a 5-metre scrum brought no joy Ben Howe asked Luke Bevan to kick yet another penalty for goal. His kick was true and the Athletic extended their lead to 8-3. With very heavy conditions underfoot and both sides not played for a month the game became very scrappy and a bit of an arm wrestle. The Quins had a good 20-minute spell of possession and only a timely strip of the ball by Athletic flanker Sam Treharne prevented the Quins capitalising with a try. The Athletic were then on top as the half closed without either side further troubling the scoreboard.

 

The Quins started the second half on the front foot. Quins centre Lewis Cronin charged down an attempted clearance kick on the Athletic goal line and he fell on the ball to level the scores. The Athletic then pressed hard. Locks Ben Cordin and Jonathon Stoker were held just short of the try line. The Athletic were penalised 5 metres short of the Quins try line. However, the Quins had received many warnings about indiscipline and backchat to the referee. Despite being awarded the penalty the chat continued. The referee’s patience ran out and he reversed the penalty in the Athletics’ favour and issued a yellow card to a Quins player. With numerical advantage the Athletic elected for a 5-metre scrum. They took the ball left. Replacement hooker Lee Murphy won the ball at a ruck. Scrum half Aled Thomas found No 8 Sean Williams in the line. The ball was quickly moved wide through centres Tom Jenkins and Stuart Floyd Ellis to full back Robin Davies entering the line and creating an overlap for win Tom James to race over in the corner.

 

Man, of the Match Williams was also instrumental in starting the move for the third Athletic try. He spotted a three on two situation on the blind side at a ruck on half way, drew a man and passed to prop Matt Muir who did likewise with slick hands releasing Ben Howe to gallop along the touchline on a weaving run. He cleverly committed the two remaining Quins defenders before passing inside to wing Liam Phillips to race over under the posts. Bevan’s conversion increased the Athletic lead to 20-8. With the conditions taking toll on both sides the game fizzled out without any further scoring.

 

Head Coach John Apsee summed up “The month lay off cost us our normal energy in the game and with the difficult muddy conditions it was satisfactory to win.” He picked out Sean Williams, Ben Howe and Matt Muir in the forwards and centres Tom Jenkins, Stuart Floyd-Ellis and the much-improved young wing Tom James in a pleasing committed gritty Athletic performance.

 

On March 3rd the Athletic visit league leaders Maesteg Quins – the last side to defeat the Athletic back on November 4th. It is hoped captain Ben Howe who played his first game of the season following a preseason injury in the following game and has been on the winning side in all his appearances this season can guide his side over the line. On March 10th the Athletic entertain Kenfig Hill at the Morganstone Brewery Field.

There doesn't appear to be any tagged photos.

Upload and Tag Photos

Comment
You must be signed in to add comments
Comments
|