Rumney : 15.S.McIntyre 14.L.Fox 13.D.Clark 12.P.Niblett (Capt) 11.T.Daly 10.A.Carlson 9.G.Manning 1.J.Harris  2.M.Feneck  3.C.Fitzpatrick 4.M.Kelly 5.J.Mills  6.A.Wilson  7.R.Sutton  8.D.Rees  Replacements : M.Catris C.Milton R.Fenton M.Peard C.Maynard

Scorers for Rumney : P.Niblett try, D.Clark try and 2 conversions and 2 penalties

Scorers for Fleur de Lys : J.Williams 2 penalties

Referee : Elwyn Marfell-Jones, Swansea

Sound defence by Rumney allowed them to weather Fleur de Lys' early pressure until home fullback Jon Williams kicked an eighth minute penalty, but by then the visitors were settling and creating good forward drives, one of which was stopped illegally and centre Danny Clark levelled the scores. Rumney second row Joe Mills dealt well with high balls and outside half Andrew Carlson gained ground through accurate touch finders, while prop James Harris exploited the blind side and scrum half Geraint Manning goaded and guided the pack forward into attacking positions and relieving pressure. In the twentieth minute an error in the Fleur three quarter line led to an interception by Clark who linked with winger Lewis Fox and captain Paul Niblett to put the centre in under the posts. Clark added the conversion but Fleur de Lys came back strongly using their powerful flanker Matthew Lawrence, No8 David Brake and hard running, former Rumney captain Christian Wills, but once again the defence was good, full back Stuart McIntyre securely putting away accurate touchfinders. Williams and Clark each kicked a penalty before the interval, and with Niblett dominating the centre, winger Tom Daly counterattacking effectively and Mills, hooker Michael Feneck, flanker Ryan Sutton and No8 Dyfrig Rees cleaning up any loose balls and driving forward, Rumney reached half time in confident mood and leading 6 - 13.

The second period found more excellent defensive work from Clark, Carlson and Fox keeping the dangerous home forwards at bay while prop Craig Fitzpatrick's scrummaging gave tight control of the set piece and Sutton stole vital balls in the lineout. A hand injury resulted in Mills being replaced in the second row by Michael Peard and there followed a period when a series of misdemeanours incurred the wrath of Mr Marfell-Jones and after the brandishing of a series of yellow cards, Rumney were reduced to twelve players and Fleur de Lys to fourteen. This resulted in increased open play since Rumney chose to run out of defence and Fleur spun it wide to try and capitalise on greater numbers, but visiting flankers Anthony Wilson and Sutton, along with second row Michael Kelly, also set up an impenetrable wall, Fleur's best attack being frustrated when left wing Neil Davies finished off a fine handling movement in the corner only to be called back for a forward pass. Restored to full strength, Rumney tightened their grip on the loose with Manning working both sides of rucks and mauls and Ryan Fenton, on at flanker, immediately carving big gaps. In the seventy fifth minute the Rumney threequarters blocked a Fleur attack and Peard miraculously tore away possession to set loose Feneck and Kelly, and when Fenton sliced right through the defence, quick ball from scrum half Chris Milton led to Clark bursting through a huge gap for the decisive try and conversion. In the closing minute Fleur de Lys produced their best passing movement of the game, excellent handling between forwards and backs leading to Davies crossing the try line once more, only to be brought again for another forward pass, but Rumney were able to tie up the match and an exciting climax of free flowing rugby from both sides ended with the away side claiming the points at 6 - 20.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "We set a game plan to play as much fifteen man rugby as possible, but against the slope and into the wind, we changed that for the first half. Our lineout was ok but we struggled in the scrums and it was our defence that kept Fleur de Lys at bay, it was superb. At half time, leading at 6 - 13 and with the wind and slope to come in our favour, we knew that if we got some phase play going we had the beating of the opposition and we were not going to throw it away. Mid way through the second half we had three men in the sin bin when we let our discipline slip, but we stuck at it and didn't leak any tries. When we were down to twelve we didn't have any ball and had to defend for our lives, we only ran it on two occassions, but as soon as we were back up to fifteen we looked very dangerous with our attacking back line. It was a massive eight pointer for us today, we dug out a win, our man for man tackling was better than last week and it won us the game. We haven't lost on the road this season and we must work on targetting our home games to pick up those points, but overall today's display was very pleasing. The Man of the Match was Danny Clark, who moved to centre from outside half today, I felt that he was getting bogged down at times at No10 and we saw how good he is with ball in hand and what a strong kicking game he had too, he adapted to it well. Dyfrig Rees had an outstanding game carrying the ball well and relieving pressure for us, his workrate is second to none."

Dyfrig Rees, No8 Rumney 1st XV : "We did well, but the real turning point was when we had three men in the sin bin but managed to hang on, it was tough being down to twelve but we picked it up, ran a few yards and support always arrived. Our two centres Paul Niblett and Danny Clark did very well, breaking the line and taking pressure off with good kicks."

Dyfrig Rees