Fixture

BRIDGEND ATHLETIC 16 v 21 GLYNNEATH.

In perfect conditions at the Brewery Field the first passage of play was frantic with four minutes of unbroken cut and thrust rugby. Five minutes later Glynneath should have scored when their centre cut through the middle from a lineout and only had the full back to beat but threw a very wayward pass to his supporting player which was knocked on. Two minutes later Athletic outside half Scott Govan was sin binned for a deliberate knock on. This led to several pressure situations in the Athletic 22 which they managed to clear. A penalty to touch gave the Ath a good foothold in the Glynneath half but they lost the ensuing lineout . After 16 minutes the Athletic tapped a loose ball back from a Glynneath put in which landed them in trouble. The Glynneath hooker pounced on the ball and ran straight and hard, sucked the defence in, and swiftly cycled possession enabling their  numerically superior backs to complete the formality by putting full back Chris Moore over in the corner. The conversion failed. Athletic full back Danny Howells in his first game of the season suffered a leg injury and was replaced by scrum half sub Aled Thomas, forcing a reshuffle in their back division.

Approaching the half hour mark an almost endless series of scrums on the Ath 5 yard line, with the put ins swopping back and fore, eventually resulted in a pick up and simple try for Glynneath’s eight, Stuart Leach. LLoyd Thomas converted. At this stage Glynneath had much the better of proceedings but the Athletic livened up only to concede another Lloyd Thomas kick after holding back a player in a Glynneath break away. Athletic winger Lewis Evans responded with a penalty of his own to leave the half time score at 15-3 to the visitors.

The game degenerated into a scrappy affair and the absence of several key players for the Athletic was proving costly. They were making far too many errors and seemed incapable of getting out of the malaise that struck them. Lewis Evans and Lloyd Thomas exchanged two penalties apiece in the early part of the half before the Athletic upped the tempo in search of the bonus point. With a minute to go the pressure resulted in a yellow card for Glynneath and in the next play Athletic number eight Dan Apsee crashed over under the posts for a try converted by Lewis Evans.

There was still enough time for a restart but the ensuing attack fizzled out when the Ath knocked on and the referee Stuart Kibble blew for full time.

This was an unusually lack lustre performance by The Ath, struggling at scrum time against a bigger pack, and they will have to improve for their home game against Beddau next Saturday.