10 Oct 09 - Bettws (friendly)

WON 40 - 7

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With no match in the League, Abercarn arranged a friendly game against Bettws seconds. The coaches used the match as an opportunity to try out several different combinations and to give players from the development team an opportunity to show their worth and challenge for first team places.

Despite the game starting with uncontested scrums, both sides played the game at a fast pace with aggressive forward play and crunching tackles from the threequarters. First on the scoreboard for the home side was Phil Whatley, normally a winger but playing at prop. His sidestepping skills ended with him crashing over the line for his first try of the season.

The visitors mounted sustained pressure on the Abercarn line and were well rewarded with a try and the conversion gave them a lead of seven points to five.

As the second half progressed, Abercarn’s superior fitness and handling skills began to tell and they took a stranglehold on the game. They were able to launch attacks from all parts of the ground and this resulted in five tries with a brace for Owen Glastonbury and Chris Symonds and one for Dean Johnson.

The biggest cheer of the match welcomed the arrival of Tony ‘Spike’ Rees on to the pitch and he was soon in the thick of the action and his kick through led to one of the tries. Whilst this was good win for Abercarn, the coaches will be worried by the number of injuries picked up by several key players with the coming visit to neighbours Risca on Saturday.