Rumney : 15.P.Carlton 14.M.O'Neill 13.G.Bowen 12.P.Niblett (Capt) 11.J.Offside 10.A.Solomon  9.P.Nash 1.J.Leadbeatter  2.M.Feneck 3.D.Evans   4.E.James  5.P.Bull  6.M.Kelly 7.R.Sutton 8.S.Coles  Replacements : C.Gale N.Ritchie R.Fenton C.Smith

Referee : Huw Williams, Neath

Scorers for Rumney : P.Carlton try, J.Offside try, P.Niblett try, P,Bull try, M.Kelly try, A.Solomon conversion

Scorers for Pill Harriers : C.Morgan try, R.Palmer conversion and 3 penalties

Pill Harriers opened up with plenty of fire but soon encountered Rumney flanker Ryan Sutton stealing their ball in the lineout, outside half Anthony Solomon driving them back with safe line kicks and centres Gareth Bowen and Paul Niblett ready to attack from the start. Both sides gave away early penalties and turnovers and Pill were first to take advantage of this when outside half Ross Palmer landed a penalty in the twenty fifth minute, but five minutes later a superb midfield break by home winger Michael O'Neill led to second row Paul Bull crossing under the posts, providing Solomon with the opportunity to put Rumney into a 7 - 3 lead. The Harriers came back strongly with second row Peter Morelli and scrum half Carwyn Morgan looking particularly dangerous, coming close to scoring a try but having to settle for a thirty eighth minute penalty and a half time score of 7 - 6.

Rumney commenced the second half with a fine handling movement involving more strong running by Bull and hooker Michael Feneck, and when the visitors attempted to attack out of defence a huge tackle by home prop David Evans disrupted the movement allowing winger Joey Offside to snap up a wayward ball and sprint in at the corner, stretching the lead to 12 - 6. Rumney No8 Stuart Coles once again dominated from the back of the scrum with full support from flankers Michael Kelly and Sutton, and any loose possession being grabbed by second row Emyr James and prop John Leadbeatter. A brilliant counterattack by Morgan led to Palmer slotting another penalty for Pill, but sharp work from a quick penalty by livewire Rumney scrum half Paul Nash soon took play back into the Harriers twenty two where Leadbeatter set up quality second phase possession for the backs and Bowen split the defence to send in full back Phil Carlton for his side's third top quality try. Sixty minutes into the match and with Rumney leading 17 - 9, Coles again went on the rampage to start a sweeping movement which switched back and forth across the field until the defence ran out of tacklers and Kelly cruised in for their fourth touchdown. Five minutes later clean lineout possession set the home backs loose once more and Bowen again burst through to link with Niblett for the fifth try. Rumney's increasing strength in depth could be seen with powerful contributions by flanker Ryan Fenton and hooker Neal Ritchie, the welcome return of prop Charles Gale to the first team, and with scrum half Craig Smith showing up strongly in attack and defence. Pill battled hard to the end and scored a very good try in the seventy fifth minute when Palmer popped the ball up for Morgan to score, the outside half's conversion bringing this very exciting and well contested game to an end at 27 - 16.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "We knew this was going to be nine man rugby, so we planned for it and to be fair, Pill Harriers were strong up front, there were warning signs and we struggled at times. We had to be patient, sort out our scrum and lineout and grind them down by half time, but we pinched three of their first lines and battled on up front. The first half was nip and tuck as we tried to grind them down, but Pill threw everything at us and our defence was absolutely superb and kept them out. I spoke to the boys at half time, going through how the phases would get the momentum going and that we would crack them, and with centres Paul Niblett and Gareth Bowen playing together it was only a matter of time. We put together good phases for fifteen minutes and Pill had no answer but the disappointing part was that we switched off and let in a soft try, we can't afford to do that, if we do we get punished. So the lesson learned today is that we must be patient and play for eighty minutes. We must keep our shape and stop sides from scoring, Pill Harriers battled well and were a good test for us up front today. I knew we would score tries, the forwards have got to take a lot of pride out of this game, they were up against a strong, experienced pack and they coped with it very well. After the match it was a bit quiet in the changing room, we knew we could have won by more, but the most important part is the three points. Things are going the right way with four wins out of four, but we must, and will, keep our feet on the ground and achieve fifteen man rugby. For fifteen minutes of today's game we did achieve that, we are a very good side. The Man of the Match was Gareth Bowen."

Gareth Bowen, centre Rumney 1st XV : "This was an important win and we need to keep up the momentum of the past few weeks, and although it was not a perfect performance, the boys were patient and in the end it was a good win. Anthony Solomon played very well on his first team debut and Paul Niblett skippered the side brilliantly, as he always does."

Left : Gareth Bowen

Above, left to right : Anthony Solomon, Michael O'Neill, Paul Nash