Following their cruel narrow defeat at Builth the previous week Aberystwyth welcomed high flying Cwmllynfell on Saturday in very positive mood. They knew that their opponents had themselves suffered a bad defeat in their last match, and knew that they were capable of giving the third placed side another jolt.
But the mood was sombre at the start of the afternoon as the teams were joined by the Aber and Cardigan youth teams to line up in solemn silence to honour the passing of ex-Aberystwyth President Nigel Dyer. It was a moving tribute that the man himself would have appreciated greatly.
The match started with both sides weighing each other up, play largely contained to the centre half of the field in a well matched battle between the two packs. The first points appeared on the scoreboard in the seventh minute when Cwmllynfell skipper Alun Sterle slotted a penalty from around the Aber 22; the scrum half could have extended his side’s lead three more times but, luckily for the home side, the usually reliable kicker seemed not to have his best kicking boots on. Play continued in the same vein, largely between the 22’s but with more incursions by the visitors than the home backs. Nevertheless Aberystwyth protected their line and the deficit was contained to just three points for the whole of the first half.
Aberystwyth started the second period very positively and immediately found themselves attacking the Cwmllynfell line. The visitors’ defence held for a short while but yielded in the 44th minute when Aber took control of a scrum 10 metres out and drove towards their opponents’ line. Their execution was textbook style and when the ball popped out centre Richard Read was the man who crossed to touch down the first try of the game. Fly half Llywarch ap Myrddin made no mistake with the conversion and the home side were 7-3 ahead.
That superiority was shortlived however as Cwmllynfell retaliated just as the home defence lapsed and within two minutes visiting flanker Jim Morgan, who had been prominent throughout the first half, ran over in the right corner for a try that regained the lead for his team. With the score at 8-7 both sides now tried to regain momentum but again the play was concentrated in centre field. On the hour the visitors were awarded a penalty near half way, and replacement Owen James was the man chosen to have a go. The kick from 48 metres was straight and true and the visitors opened up an 11-7 lead.
Cwmllynfell again failed to convert a penalty attempt but they continued to hold their four point lead as the teams continued to attack and counter attack, but a mixture of sound defence and handling errors prevented both sides from scoring. Aberystwyth were given a couple of opportunities, but took what turned out to be wrong options of going for scrums and lineouts rather than kicks at goal. As the clock wore down the home side staged repeated sorties into the Cwmllynfell 22 and came very close to scoring. But the visitors kept them out and looked like holding on to their four point advantage. That would have at least have given the home side a losing bonus point that they would have thoroughly deserved.
But for the second Saturday in a row fate dealt them a raw hand when, in injury time Cwmllynfell took possession of the ball on the half way line and set off along the left touchline. Full back Anthony Rees took up the ball and completed the job to reach the tryline; there he found that the defence had run out and he could run towards the posts for the touchdown. That was to no avail however as a torrid afternoon for goalkickers prevailed with yet another failed attempt. Cwmllynfell had cemented their victory with that try but, depressingly for the home supporters, it had increased their advantage to more than seven points thereby denying Aberystwyth their bonus point.
This World Cup season has had strange effects on the rugby calendar for the year and the combatants now find themselves half way through their League programmes in mid-November. That means that next Saturday sees the start of a re-run of the fixtures that brings Skewen to Plascrug. Aberystwyth lost by just two points at their ground in the opening match of the season, but the Neath side seem to have improved significantly since then and have turned in some impressive results in recent weeks. It should all serve up an interesting and entertaining encounter for the last League match at Plascrug in 2011.
 

Alan Jones