Abercynon R F C

Abercynon moved up to seventh place in the division 2 east league table by winning an exhilarating game against Fleur De Lys at Y Parc. For the third game in succession Gavin Moses’ team notched up a bonus point victory after overcoming a 14-point deficit. Cynon, aiming to continue the momentum gained in recent weeks, applied the early pressure and Matthew Turner put them 3-0 up with a 6th minute penalty goal. They continued to press but handling errors coupled with poor decision making cost them a number of scoring opportunities. As Cynon’s play became even more ragged the visitors outside half Greendale equalised with a 24th minute penalty goal. Just two minutes later Fleur took the lead when a break by their scrum half John enabled full back Gary Wilkes to saunter in unopposed for a try. Greendale converted and for the remainder of the half play was evenly shared with Cynon unable to make any real impact on a confident looking Fleur de Lys team who had a man yellow carded shortly before the break.
In the second half Cynon started brightly against 14 men but a promising, try scoring move came to an abrupt halt when they lost the ball inside the opposition 22. Fleur full back Gary Wilkes first instinct was to hack the ball up field. With the Cynon defence out of position Wilkes followed up his kick to twice more put boot to ball and as it bounced into his arms he touched down between the uprights. Greendale converted and the visitors were 17-3 ahead. While stunned somewhat by conceding the try Cynon responded by upping their game and a delightful attacking move culminated in an unconverted try for centre Luke Davies. Immediately though, Fleur regained the initiative and a blindside break from scrum half John enabled him to outpace the defence and cross for his team’s 3rd try. Greendale converted and with 20 minutes remaining Cynon had it all to do. Resilience, guts and adventure all came to the fore as Moses’ men went into overdrive to try and salvage something from the game. The outstanding player on the park, flanker Jack Perkins, was in every move as Cynon clawed their way back and he was rewarded with a try as his team mates piled forward. Matthew Turner converted and as the visitors continued to wilt it was Turner who twice cruised over the line for a tries and for good measure converted them both. Cynon were now 29-24 ahead but had to endure some anxious moments before Turner made the game safe with a 43rd minute penalty goal. While that certainly calmed the nerves of the Cynon faithful it was cruel luck on the visitors who, in a highly competitive game, saw the consolation of a losing bonus point disappear from their grasp.

Report by Gareth Withey