After the disappointment of their opening game a week earlier, hopes of a return to winning ways for Aberystwyth were firmly quashed on Saturday as they slumped to their biggest home League defeat for many years. The visitors, Glynneath, are newly promoted from Division 3 and on the opening Saturday had registered a convincing home win against Loughor. They showed that that was no rogue result as they totally outplayed Aberystwyth, clocking up eight tries in the process.

It was a battle of attrition at the start as the home side defended well, occasionally countering, as the visitors made full use of the wind behind their backs in the first half. They withstood some periods of intense pressure near their tryline, but the home defence seemed equal to whatever Glynneath had to offer.  The light and dark blues suffered a blow in the 32^nd minute however when captain and prop Prys Lewis was yellow carded for alleged illegal use of the hands, forcing his side to regroup their forward lineup. It looked as if the scoreline would remain blank until the interval but Aber’s defences eventually broke in the 37^th minute when Glynneath centre Ryan Llywellyn broke through to touch down for the opening try. Worse was to come when Aber’s concentration lapsed from the restart  leading to another try, this time  other centre Kyle Roberts crossing. With fly half Jack O’Reilly converting both tries, Aber were suddenly 14 points own as the whistle blew for half time.

The last five minutes of the first half had been a big disappointment for the home side, but within another five minutes of the restart that had turned to devastation. Two further tries were scored, by winger Anthony Lee and full back David Evans. The first of these was converted by O’Reilly and at 26-0 Glynneath had also secured a bonus point. Aber did not give up and tried their best to get back into the match. They made an inroad after 52 minutes when wing Matthew Green crossed and rounded to touch down under the posts. Centre Jason Rees converted to make it 26-7.

A neat turnover for Glynneath in their own 22 in the 55^th minute saw Kyle Roberts race 70 metres to cross the Aber tryline.  But Green had valiantly chased and became the local hero when he dislodged the ball from the centre’s hand in a tackle in the in-goal area, the 5^th try denied. Glynneath exerted further pressure on the home defence and crossed the Aber line again on the hour; this time however Cardiff referee Tom Williams adjudged the visitors to have been held up and they were denied yet again. By this time the Neath valley side were dominating possession and territory, but when Aber broke out of the stranglehold  the visitors cynically obstructed Aber scrum half Ifan Beynon Thomas, and they paid the price by being on the receiving end of a yellow card themselves.  Aber could not capitalise on their temporary numerical advantage however and the pressure finally told on the home defence when Glynneath lock Ashley Hopkins powered over a stretched Aber defence for their fifth try.

Glynneath had a competent set of forwards, but their strength really lay in their backs, running from everywhere and creating angles with Llywellyn and Evans especially prominent. This exemplified itself in the 65^th minute when left wing Tom Venn outsmarted Aber with the angle of his entry and scored near the posts. 

Two further tries were added before the end, the first by flanker Craig Moses (whose parent rugby Union is Kazhakstan) despite a valiant chase by opposition flanker Aaron Lewis. Fittingly perhaps it was Llywellyn who finished things off with a 50 metre run, made to look good by some ineffectual tackling from a by now tired Aber team. The last two tries were both converted to make the score 52-7 and Aber’s misery was brought to a close.

On this performance Glynneath must be highly fancied in this division and they are now one of just four sides unbeaten after the first two weeks. Aber’s next encounter is again challenging as they face another one of that quartet next Saturday, travelling to Kenfig Hill in the process.

Alan Jones