Rumney : 15.A.Carlson 14.L.Plummer 13.G.Bowen 12.S.McIntyre 11.T.Daly 10.J.Thomas  9.G.Manning 1.J.Leadbeatter (Capt)  2. M.Feneck  3.C.Fitzpatrick  4.M.Kelly   5.J.Mills  6.A.Wilson 7.D.Rees  8.S.Coles  Replacements :  N.Ritchie  S.Greedy C.Maynard  R.Sutton C.Milton

Referee : Simon Wycherley, Penmaen

Scorers for Rumney : T.Daly try, A.Carlson try, J.Thomas 2 penalties and 2 conversions

Scorers for Llanharan : C.Bessant try, J.Harries try and conversion and penalty

Rumney had only won one game at Llanharan's Dairy Field in eleven years and it had been more than three years since their last visit there, but the two clubs have always had strong ties and a firm pitch and dry conditions provided the opportunity for an exciting return to the open contests that characterised these fixtures in the past. It was an explosive start by the visitors with centre Stuart McIntyre, wing Lincoln Plummer and full back Andrew Carlson all immediately combining to put right wing Tom Daley away and coming very close to scoring. Rumney half backs Geraint Manning and James Thomas launched early attacks using Carlson and second row Joe Mills to take play well into home territory and after six minutes Thomas opened the scoring through a penalty. More Rumney pressure saw No8 Stuart Coles, Mills and second row Michael Kelly driving forward with Manning kicking well and following up rapidly, allowing Carlson and Thomas to carve out more gaps. When Llanharan did break out they looked dangerous but Thomas's line kicking drove them back, however a sustained period took the home side deep into Rumney territory where they confidently spun the ball wide, but Daly was lurking on his own twenty two and anticipated a long pass which he duly intercepted and set off on a seventy metre sprint to the posts. Thomas added the conversion but Llanharan were not to be denied and three minutes later home winger Dorian Thomas started a weaving run before linking with his forwards and slick handling sent No8 Craig Bessant in at the corner. Mills continued to excel with more fearless drives, supported in close range attacks by Coles, Kelly and the increasingly influential flankers Anthony Wilson and Dyfrig Rees. The Rumney backs also seized every opportunity, centre Gareth Bowen linking effectively with Thomas and releasing speedster Plummer, but Llanharan again counterattacked whenever possible and good linking between forwards and backs led to centre James Harries getting in range for a successful penalty and a scoreline of 8 - 10 with ten minutes to go to the interval. The rest of the half saw Rumney consolidating their position through excellent scrummaging by captain John Leadbeatter, fellow prop Craig Fitzpatrick and Hooker Michael Feneck, Wilson and Rees containing the opposition back row and Carlson defending heroically.

From the restart Mills continued as a tower of strength and more excellent tackling by Leadbeatter, Bowen and Wilson just kept Llanharan out but the home side was clearly enjoying greater possession and in the sixty fifth minute scrum half Craig Burton dummied his way from the base of a ruck through the defence and fed Harries on the burst. The centre converted his own try and put his side into the lead for the first time at 15 - 10 and The Dairymen's confidence increased when they took advantage of lineout errors to force their way into more attacking positions. Coles, Kelly and Feneck remained dangerous on the counterattack and Leadbeatter, Fitzpatrick and Wilson put in massive defensive tackles allowing Manning and Thomas to effectively clear their lines. In the seventieth minute Ryan Sutton and Simon Greedy came on in the Rumney back row and Sutton immediately took excellent lineout ball to set up Kelly on a powerful forward drive. Manning and McIntyre rapidly fed out the ball and a beautiful flick reverse pass by outside half Thomas put Carlson through on the burst for a fine try. Llanharan now had to put every effort into attack and were only kept out by a brilliant turnover tackle from Sutton, but with replacement scrum half Chris Milton snapping at the forwards and Mills again bursting forward, the home side strayed offside and Thomas added another penalty. The final minutes were tense ones for both sides but when Rumney turned over a Llanharan maul they sealed victory at 15 - 20.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "We knew it would be tough at Llanharan and this was a massive six pointer. They have a big, strong pack but we were going to play fifteen man rugby from the start, and that's what we did. It should have been all over in the first twenty minutes but we spilled two or three golden chances to score tries. At half time I was quite pleased, we had kept up a good tempo for a full thirty minutes when Llanharan wanted to slow it down and when we got the ball we put it wide. It was hard at times when they played to their strengths but we made changes and Ryan Sutton and Simon Greedy gave us that extra edge to finish off the game and Andrew Carlson scored a great try. All in all I'm very pleased because it takes the pressure off us and gives us a confidence boost, but we can not get away from the fact that we are not finishing off chances. The boys hadn't played for three weeks and they battled really hard today. The Man of the Match was Michael Kelly, ball carrying second rows are very scarce in Wales and Michael and Joe Mills were very impressive, their performances were nothing short of outstanding. A special mention must go to Stuart Coles who is moving away to work, Stuart has been a wonderful servant of the club and we hope that this was not his last game for Rumney - we wish Stuart all the very best."

Geraint Manning, scrum half Rumney 1st XV : "The first twenty minutes were very tough and we had chances which we didn't really take, we should have been further ahead than we were and we allowed Llanharan back into the game. We missed tackles and let them in for tries and felt that we should have been ahead by more than two points at half time. In the second half our forwards picked up and went and that led to quick ball for our backs who managed to exploit the gaps. We are working hard in training on our fitness and that helped us in the last twenty minutes, our analysis sessions of our recent games also proved useful today. Outside half James Thomas had a good game and Andrew Carlson and Stuart Coles did very well this afternoon."