Fixture

Pontllanfraith hosted high flying Aberbargoed in a Division 3 East C fixture. The visitors having lost just once in the league all season came into the match as strong favourites but it was Pont who started the better of the two teams. However the home side were unable to turn the territory into points in the opening 10 minutes.

Aberbargoed then started to dominate proceedings and mid way through the second half they got their first score when their prop bundled over the line from close range. Pont didn't let their heads drop though and hit back immediately when Aber tried a cute offload from the restart, it was intercepted by the Pont centre who took it home under the posts the level the scores. The rest of the half Aberbargoed spent in Pont's 22, but some heroic defending from Pont saw them make tackle after tackle and keep Aberbargoed off the score sheet until the referees half time whistle.

Half Time: Pontllanfraith 7-7 Aberbargoed

The second half continued in a similar pattern to the end of the first half, lots of Aber territory and possession but good defence by Pont. Aberbargoed eventually got over the line around 55mins but some of the Pont players felt aggrieved as they believe the ball was knocked on before it was grounded. Shortly after Aber scored again, this time after multiple scrums, the referee lost his patience with Pont prop Ashley Williams and awarded a penalty try to Aberbargoed. 

Pont were then reduced to 14 men when substitute Dan Garwood dislocated his shoulder and Pont were unable to replace him as they were out of subs. Going down to 14 men wasn't helped by the depth on the oppositions bench as they were able to bring on some quality from Llanhilleth RFC and Aberbargoed ran in another two tries in the last 10 minutes.

Final Score: Pontllanfraith 7-31 Aberbargoed

Despite the result, Pontllanfraith can take a lot of heart from the performance and the level of commitment from the players. Next week Pont are home again to Whiteheads RFC.