Rumney : 15.G.Bowen 14.A.Carlson 13.P.Niblett (Capt) 12.A.Jones 11.M.O'Neill 10.D.Clark  9.C.Miller 1.J.Leadbeatter 2.M.Feneck 3.D.Evans 4.P.Bull  5.E.James  6.R.Sutton 7.R.Fenton 8.M.Kelly  Replacements : M.Way C.O'Donoghue C.Smith C.Fitzpatrick

Referee : Jason Langdon, Bridgend

Scorers for Rumney : P.Bull try, G.Bowen try, P.Niblett try, D.Clark try and 2 conversions

Scorers for Abergavenny : G.Williams 2 tries, M.George try, Richard Macormac try, J.Didcote conversion

A cliff hanger of a game saw Rumney run out narrow winners at Bailey Park where the home side came back strongly in the second half and threatened to overhaul their visitors' substantial lead. With neither team having played for a number of weeks the opening period was characterised by scrappy play but Rumney settled first and well controlled forward drives led by hooker Michael Feneck gave them attacking options deep in the Abergavenny twenty two where they were awarded a penalty and quick thinking by flanker Ryan Fenton, second row Paul Bull and neat passing from centre Paul Niblett resulted in full back Gareth Bowen being worked clear in the corner for the opening try. From the restart Rumney again attacked, second row Emyr James rampaging downfield and feeding wing Paddy O'Neill who was unlucky to be hauled down inches short of the try line but in the thirteenth minute Fenton gathered a loose clearance kick to start a threequarter movement which involved Niblett and winger Andrew Carlson before outside half Danny Clark completed a loop and crossed for the second try. Clark's conversion stretched the lead to 0 - 12 but the clearly improving Abergavenny pack tightened their approach and through controlled forward play they constructed a good try for hooker and Captain Gareth Williams in the twenty fifth minute. The game was now centering around the forward exchanges where the tight and bigger home pack contrasted with the lighter, mobile visitors and in the thirty fifth minute Rumney were awarded a close range free kick after a series of disrupted scrums. Lightning fast scrum half Chris Miller tapped and fed the charging Bull who thundered over for a well taken opportunist try, Clark's conversion leading to an interval score of 5 - 19.

Three minutes into the second half, and now playing into the strong wind, a Miller chip ahead caused confusion in the home defence and flanker Ryan Sutton pounced to secure possession from which Carlson and Clark worked Niblett free out wide and the Rumney captain, enjoying an outstanding performance, crossed for the try which extended his side's lead to 5 - 24. From this point however the balance of the game switched firmly in Abergavenny's favour as the home side tied up play in their favoured corner of the field and kept the ball tightly in the forwards, an approach which resulted in Rumney being unable to stop a lengthy drive which ended with Matthew George scoring a try for the home side in the fiftieth minute. Agressive defence by props John Leadbeatter and David Evans, No8 Michael Kelly and hooker Colin O'Donoghue kept the powerful Abergavenny pack at bay and Miller worked the touchline with grubber kicks but in the sixtieth minute handling errors led to Williams getting his second try, scrum half Didcote's conversion drawing his side closer with a 17 - 24 scoreline. Rumney were living dangerously, running out of defence to try and stop the Abergavenny pressure and in the sixty sixth minute Fenton was yellow carded by Mr Langdon, but surprisingly Abergavenny chose to run the ball and with the Rumney defence holding firm, a clear scoring chance was lost. A second yellow card, this one for O'Donoghue, reduced the visitors to thirteen men, and by using their superior numbers and good organisation, Abergavenny put centre Richard Macormac in at the corner for their fourth try, but determined defence, particularly by Kelly and centre Anthony Jones, and a vital lineout steal by Sutton prevented the home team from pressing their advantage and it was a relieved Rumney side that heard Mr Langdon's final whistle bring the game to a nailbiting conclusion at 22 - 24.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : " In training on Tuesday I said to the boys that this game was not going to be pretty so, knowing what we were up against, we prepared all week for nine man rugby and that preparation involved avoiding a game which only involved the forwards. We started really well and scored two lovely tries playing fifteen man rugby, most sides can not compete with us when we play like that, but after fifteen minutes we got into a dogfight with messy rucks and little continuity and no quick ball for long periods, fair does to Abergavenny, they had a game plan to stop us and keep it in the forwards. At half time we knew that we would be living in the far corner of the field and we tried to keep play away from there but Abergavenny concentrated things there for thirty five minutes so we had no field positions or ball and had to defend for long periods. The boys stuck to the task against a big pack which pushed us over a couple of times. The Abergavenny forwards were good and they played to their strength but I always knew that our pack could win us the game by forward defence. We wanted to win and all praise to the boys, Abergavenny is a very tough place to get three points and this was a great win. Prop David Evans was absolutely superb, playing the whole eighty minutes he ran his socks off and was massive in defence. Michael Kelly was the Man of the Match, he stuck at it at No8 and when the scrum was turning he ran himself into the ground - that's the difference between winning and losing a game, Michael tackled and supported and was Man of the Match by a mile !"

Michael Kelly, No8 Rumney 1st XV : "In the first half we had the tempo and Abergavenny couldn't live with us, the forwards played well and we had a good defence. The first ten minutes of the second half were good too but then we stepped off the gas. Paul Bull had a great game, tackling and leading from the front and so did Ryan Sutton. It was hard times when we were down and we had to dig in, we couldn't stop their driving maul, but a win is a win !."