Championship East – Sat Nov 1st, 2025

The match was preceded by a minute’s silence from both teams in memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War 2. Match Ball Sponsor Allan Peat representing the Glamorgan Parachute Regiment marched to join the silence laying a wreath on the pitch.

This was the most physical battle the Ath have experienced in their Championship season to date, with referee Mr Jack Davies issuing 3 yellow cards to players in both packs.

Try honours with only 1 per side were shared, with Ath scrum half Evan D’Adamo slotting 4 penalties to give the Ath a hard-fought victory their 5th in 6 outings in the Championship East. It also propelled them to 2nd place in the table jointly on 24 points with Treorchy and St Peters and only 3 points separating 2nd and 6th places.

Aberdare stunned the Ath in their first visit to the Ath 22, when on a slippery surface a loose ball was spilled for the visitors to capitalise with a try in the corner, well converted.

Ath full back and captain Jonathan Phillips gathered a clearance kick just inside his own half sidestepping his way to within 5 metres of the Aberdare try line, before being tackled.

The Ath continued to exert pressure. Kalafi Molitiks and Gabe Brown were held just short before Ath outside half Ollie Olds threw a long pass to wing Jake Williams to cross in the corner and reduce the Ath deficit to 5-7.

There was quite a battle at scrum time with Ben Owen, Lee Murphy and Matt Norman holding their own against a bigger Aberdare unit. The Ath line out with Mark Davey, Kalafi Molitika and Iestyn Merriman securing cleaner possession – took a few against the throw. Merriman, Cam Thomas and Hakeem Mumine carried and tackled well throughout – though Aberdare were not giving the Ath much space for the Ath centres Gabe Brown and Tom Jenkins to bring wings McKenzie Grey and Jake Williams into play.

The Ath driving maul was effective from distance – but was countered when close to the Aberdare try line, including when the Ath declined a kick at goal and went for a touchline kick and driving maul.

On the half hour when another kickable penalty chance was on offer with such a tight game scrum half Evan D’Adamo made no mistake from 30 metres – enabling the Ath to take a narrow 8-7 half time lead.

The dogfight continued in the 2nd half with neither side creating try scoring opportunities, before a 35 metre D’Adamo penalty gave the Ath some daylight at 11-7.

During the 2nd half Ben Cording, Evryn Ozbelin, Tom Morgan and Joe Patterson joined the action.

On the hour mark a third D’Adamo penalty from 40 metres gave the Ath a 14-7 cushion – but it wasn’t until the final minute his 4th penalty shot and 80th point of the season gave the Ath all 4 points and denied Aberdare any points from a hard-fought game.

The Ath coaches Stuart Morris, Nathan Holman, Mike Powell and Jonathan Phillips were pleased that in a tough physical encounter, the Ath managed to grind out the win.

Ath Director David Perry organised the Ath Old Boys to sponsor the fixture – many thanks to all – especially Carey Prior, Mike Rennie and Phil Rees who played in the very first Ath fixture in 1972. They are all very proud of how far the club they helped on its way has progressed and were impressed with their attitude and spirit shown in today’s tough fixture. The Old Boys are all very welcome to inspire us on our Championship East and Cup journey.

Once again, we appreciate the pre and match high quality pics from Paul Harwood.

Also, thanks to the regular match day helpers who ensure everything is done behind the scenes to enable the team to take the field.

This coming Saturday the Ath visit Treorchy in a Championship East game – ironically, they were drawn this week to play the Zebras at home on Dec 6th in the Quarter Final of the Championship Cup. The Zebras have the best defensive record in the league – only conceding 8 tries in 6 games – so the Ath will need to be at their best to secure a victory at the Oval ground.