Fixture

Baglan 8 Aberaeron 17

It is every players dream to tread the hallowed turf of the Millenium Stadium and for Aberaeron that dream is still alive. Despite a raft of injuries they booked their place in the semi finals with a controlled and comfortable victory in an intriguing encounter against Div3A West Central side Baglan, Encouraged by a considerable and vociferous following it is testimony to the squad strength in depth and the youth development through coach John James that the enforced absentees were hardly missed such was the seamless transition especially in the backline. A perfect start was a bonus as the visitors were first off the mark as early as the fifth minute, with a strong scrummage paving the way for centre Tom Slinger to juggle the ball to crash through the defence much to the surprise of the hosts. The Aberaeron scrum was dominant with the front row of Danton,Wozencraft and in particular Ceri Dorian Davies always to the fore and the pressure soon paid off giving Rhodri Jenkins the opening penalty success. Baglan offered little in the opening quarter with little vision and direction and with Aberaeron also dominating the lineouts with captain Sion Evans regularly finding Richard Francis and Tudur Jenkins there was little to fear. A couple of unenforced errors however gave the hosts the fillip they required and they enjoyed a purple patch leading up to the break. A series of rolling mauls released the backs and they created an overlap for wing Daniel Thomas to cross the line. Minutes later they further reduced the deficit with a penalty by Dan Blethyn to leave Aberaeron a mere 3 points ahead leading into the second half after looking to be well in control. Important therefore for Aberaeron to regroup going into the second period and with coach Justin Lloyd adding to the encouragement they quickly rediscovered their first half resolve and could easily have added to their try count. Centre Morgan Llewelyn and wing Steffan Jones, both youth developments, created openings all to no avail and a mixture of stout defence and missed opportunities failed to produce the results and it was left to the reliable Jenkins boot to keep the scoreboard ticking with a further 2 well struck penalties to give the required breathing space. A red card for Baglan also helped the cause and with no further scores there was considerable jubilation at the final whistle with the well deserved success. A semi final on neutral ground now beckons in March with the carrot of a trip to the capital, but its back to league duties on Saturday with an away fixture at Haverfordwest.