Aberdare Match Report

Date:- 27th September 2008

Venue;- Aberdare

Fixture;- Friendly

ABERDARE (SECONDS) RFC 9 POINTS BEAUFORT RFC 34 POINTS

Beaufort managed six unanswered tries in their first friendly fixture of the season but should have produced a hatfull more from the amount of possession won. Their front row of Marcus Rose, Glyn Moon and Justin Roberts destroyed the home scrum that was permanently in reverse gear most of the afternoon while behind them locks Mark Heasley and Matthew Hopkins reigned supreme in the line out.

However, the first half was riddled with unforced errors and some sloppy handling to deny Beaufort putting the match out of sight by the interval.They did get two touchdowns and these came from the few well structured attacks. Centre Geraint Phillips was the beneficiary of the first in his comeback match, courtesy of a fine run by wing Nicky Jenkins and in the second quarter of play Kyle Purnall got a second .

Aberdare's only real threat came from the boot of their standoff whose siege guns kicks out of defence kept Beaufort at bay. He also kicked three long range penalties taking advantage of the wind to keep his side in touch with the lead which was 12 points to 9 at the halfway break.

But there was no Plan B in the Aberdare armoury and in the second half Beaufort cut loose with a decisive barrage of attacks in a much improved performance to score four further tries. Purnall got his second and Beaufort's third try and on the hour Scott Griffiths cut the line for the next. By this time all resistance had faded and Beaufort finished the match at a canter. Flanker Andrew Morgan featured several times before latching onto the final pass for the next score with his captain Dylan Smith kicking the extra points and Jason Taylor got the last before the referee blew up early

For Beaufort there were eye catching performances again from Mike White drafted in at scum half and flanker Andrew Morgan. Prop and newcomer Marcus Rose had a sound match and shows promise but Beaufort's star man on the day for his destructive attacks at the opposition defence was flanker Jason Taylor

Next week Beaufort are back to league duty and head to Caerleon.

BARRIE CASWELL

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