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Admiral National League Div 1 West Central – Dec 3^rd

Bridgend Athletic RFC and Nantyfyllon ran onto the Brewery Field through a guard of honour provided by their respective U8 Minis, who played a curtain raiser.

The Athletic warmed up in new training tops provided by sponsor Gareth L Edwards, who along with Bridgend Male Voice Choir also sponsored the fixture.

Their second successive 4 try bonus point victory by 26-13 moved them into 6^th place in the top half of the table on 16 points from 7 games. Better finishing than Nantyfyllon and a massive defensive effort and a strong dominant scrum and front 5 effort gave the Ath the win with Nantyfyllon certainly well in the game throughout.

The Ath started on the front foot and saw centre Tom Morgan run back into familiar pack territory, seeing Nantyfyllon infringe. Ath scrum half Callum Reed suffered an ankle injury in the ruck and was replaced after 5 minutes by Dan James. Outside half Aled Thomas set up a 5-metre lineout driving maul from the penalty. The maul moved infield and when halted James threw a reverse inside pass to Ath flanker Ben Howe who crashed over for his 3^rd  try this season,  converted by Thomas.

Nantyfyllon responded from the restart and were awarded a penalty which was pulled wide. More Nanty pressure forced another penalty line out drive, with hooker Rhys Davies finishing off the rolling maul to touchdown.

After 20 minutes good drives by lock Jon Stoker and No 8 Ben Cording saw the Ath half backs bring centres Morgan and Joe Patterson into play. Patterson ran hard diagonally drawing a centre and wing before releasing full back Ieuan Evans to race over for his 8^th try of the season, A wide out conversion from Thomas gave the Ath a 14-5 lead.

A charge down by wing Owain Leyshon nearly led to a try but the Ath knocked on trying to pick up a try scoring loose ball.

The final 8 minutes of the half were played out 5 metres from the Ath line, with the Ath conceding several penalties for offside as they first stopped 3 x 5 metre line out drives, the front row of Matthew Muir, Ben Owen & Wayne Fooks then drove back 2 x 5 metre Nanty scrums. In desperation Nanty tried a 5-metre tap penalty only to find no way through great defensive work by the Ath taking them to half time with a 14-5 lead.

Nanty’s restart was knocked on inside the Ath 22 with an Ath player picking up in an offside position gifting Nanty outside half Rhodri Davies with 3 points from the resultant penalty. This gave Nannty momentum and from a touch following a penalty inter passed to see speedy full back Lloyd Freeman cross in the corner to reduce their deficit to 14-13.

The Ath weathered the storm and saw centre Joe Patterson break from halfway into the Nanty 22. Ath No 8 Ben Cording picked up at the back of the ruck and ran clean through the centre of the ruck to cross wide out. Thomas 3^rd conversion extended the lead to 21-13.

A strong run by young Ath wing Lochie Barron saw him felled by a high tackle requiring several minutes of treatment, resulting in a Nanty Yellow card. The Ath changed their front row with props Jacob Perkins and Matthew Norman and hooker Lee Murphy joining the action. A driving maul from the line out penalty 12 metres out saw the Ath rewarded for patience as Murphy crossed from the driving maul, for the bonus point try and a 26-13 lead.

Nanty were not finished with the last 10 minutes replicating the end of the first half with the Ath defence again prevailing against the Nanty attack, with Howe leading by example and aided by fellow flanker Lloyd Anthony, and locks Harrison Morgan and Jon Stoker.

The Ath used their Veo camera for the first time enabling the coaches to see what areas the team need to work on before visiting Kenfig Hill this Saturday Dec 10^th. They felt the Ath made to many unforced mistakes creating pressure on themselves.

The Ath coaches picked out the starting front 5 and backs Ieuan Evans and Lochie Barron as the leading Ath players on the day. November Nathaniel Car Sles player of the month prop Matthew Muir has transformed the Ath scrum in the 3 games against Kenfig Hill, Birchgrove and today Nantyfyllon, since a period away, helping win many good scrum penalties for the Ath.