News

Another bright Saturday afternoon saw Abercynon RFC visit Riverside Park for the first time in a number of years to play in the first round of the National Plate competition. 

Coming off the back of two wins, the Rumney team were confident but this is the cup and despite Abercynon being a league below, the Red and Blacks were the far better team in the first half. 

Rumney couldn't match the energy or intensity of their opposite numbers and struggled to get out of the half for the first forty minutes. This resulted in a number of penalties and a well-deserved try. One area that Rumney were dominant in was the scrum and the pressure applied there resulted in a penalty. Abercynon were  0-13 until right on the stroke of half-time when Regan Mahoney slotted the penalty to get their first points of the game.

The coaches halftime pep talk and the introduction of some fresh legs saw the momentum shift in the second half and Rumney slowly clawed their way back into the game. With Rumney camped in the Abercynon 22 a loose kick was picked up by Tyler Mahoney who ran hard and evaded a number of tacklers to score a fine solo effort. His brother Regan slotted the conversion to make it 10-13.

Rumney were now starting to play in the right areas and another two powerful scrums resulted in penalties that were converted that saw Rumney take the lead for the first time. Rumney led 16-13.

With ten minutes remaining, Rumney tried to close the game out but Abercynon weren't done yet and in the last second of the game were awarded a  penalty right in front of the posts. The Abercynon outside half wasted no time in slotting the penalty and taking the game into extra time.

As to be expected there were a lot of tired legs on both sides and the Rumney side were first to score points in the added passage of play. Slick hands between backs and forwards saw the Rumney team deep into the corner of the Abercynon 22 and when an Abercynon player knocked the ball on to prevent a try, the referee deemed it deliberate and awarded a penalty try. 23-16 and the score remained this way up until halftime of extra time.

Straight from kick-off Rumney applied pressure and were again in the opposition 22 when Regan Mahoney collected his own grubber kick to score right by the posts. He converted his own try 33-16.

You would have thought that the two scores would have knocked the wind out of the sails out of Abercynon but they still sniffed an opportunity to take this game even with only 7  minutes left. Abercynon scored a try which wasn't converted, 33-21. 3 minutes left.

Again Abercynon plugged away and scored another try which wasn't converted and thankfully the Ref blew for full time with the score at 33-26 in an eventful 100-minute game.

Man of the match was Owen Jones for his tiresome work around the park.

Next weeks game is Bridgend Athletic as the league fixtures resume.