Rumney : 15.P.Carlton 14.J.Offside 13.P.Niblett (Capt) 12.A.Jones 11.M.Miller 10.P.Nash  9.C.Miller 1.C.Gale  2. M.Feneck  3.R.Hanmer 4.R.Williams 5.M.Kelly 6.R.Fenton 7.C.O'Donoghue 8.C.Barker Replacements : P.Douglas N.Ritchie G.Niblett T.Gee

Rhydyfelin : 15.L.Scarfe 14.G.Close 13.S.Perry 12.L.Evans 11.M.Nicholas 10.K.Norman  9.N.Griffiths 1.D.Green 2.M.Johnson 3.M.Jones 4.A.Riley (Capt) 5.C.Riley 6.P.Phillips 7.R.Agnew 8.R.Godwin  Replacements : to be announced

Referee : Reg Hughes, Tredegar

Scorers for Rumney : C.Gale try, J.Offside try

Scorers for Rhydyfelin : R.Agnew try, M.Jones try, S.Perry penalty and 2 conversions

In bright winter sunshine but with a bitterly cold wind at Riverside Park, Rumney had a dream start when a strong forward drive led to centre Anthony Jones making a determined break and Rhydyfelin conceding a penalty in order to stop him. Outside half Paul Nash kicked for the corner and from the lineout No8 Carl Barker gathered clean possession to set up another forward drive. Flanker Colin O'Donoghue, supported by the whole pack, slipped the ball to prop Charlie Gale who controlled the drive well and chose the perfect moment to dive over for the opening try. The visitors responded with a good threequarter attack which only failed because of a final dropped pass, but in the tenth minute their impressive No8 Rhys Godwin started a tight forward move from a scrum and flanker Robbie Agnew finished it off with a try. Centre Scott Perry added the conversion to put his side into a 5 - 7 lead but with Rhydyfelin running from defensive situations, cold fingers resulted in more dropped passes and counterattacks from the home side. Both teams showed a willingness to spin the ball with Rumney switching between forwards and backs, O'Donoghue, flanker Ryan Fenton, hooker Michael Feneck and prop Rhodri Hanmer shining in the loose, locks Michael Kelly and Rhys Williams backing up well and Nash and centre Paul Niblett creating gaps. The Rumney threequarters showed their potential with wingers Matthew Miller and Joey Offside being joined by full back Phil Carlton to stretch the defences. In the thirty fifth minute a red card incident led to Rhydyfelin being reduced to fourteen men and from the penalty Hanmer swept wide connecting with Niblett who cut straight through and fired out a perfect long pass for Offside to cruise over unopposed. On the stroke of half time Rumney were found guilty of going in from the side and Perry slotted the penalty for an interval score of 10 - 10.

Rhydyfelin recommenced with more forceful play, strong running wing Gavin Close becoming increasingly effective and needing more than one tackle to bring him down, and in the fiftieth minute, following another infringement for 'in the side' , it was Close who charged down a clearance kick, allowing prop Mark Jones to pounce for the try. Another successful conversion by Perry took the score to 10 - 17 and although Rumney controlled play well, with Barker strong in the line and at the base of the scrum, and scrum half Chris Miller cleverly driving play forward, the visitors' defence remained sound. Although lower than in recent games, Rumney's penalty count started to increase, as did the number of turnovers, and Rhydyfelin found gaps for Close to exploit and opportunities for Godwin and outside half Kristian Norman to make defensive clearances. For the home side, prop Paul Douglas and hooker Neal Ritchie put in hard graft to push play upfield, Williams and Fenton keeping the drive on but meeting more stout defence from the visitors. Rumney's impetus was maintained by the arrival of Terry Gee who immediately provided four powerful darts forward and also cleared up well in retreat. Indiscipline led to important penalties going against Rumney in attacking positions and despite excellent breaks by Nash and Niblett, the team could not finish off the moves and suffered this 10 - 17 defeat.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "The set piece went well, lineout and scrum, and we mauled Rhydyfelin off the park, actually going through four or five phases quite well, but we must keep our composure. We lose concentration and lack a bit of confidence, even when they went down to fourteen men Rhydyfelin stuck to their game and played well, their defence was good. Our first up tackles were poor and we still try to shift fifty-fifty ball, and this is where we are falling down - not having the confidence to go on past four or five phases. Our defence is not up to scratch and we gave them too much time and did not move up in defence. In general the feeling is quite low with losses on the trot, but there is a lot of spirit and in due course we are going to give somebody a good hiding. It is up to us to put it right, we are sometimes our own worst enemies, some of our play was quite good but we need a win and when we get that it will put us on the right track. This game of rugby is all about winning, we won't give in, we'll battle to the end but I don't want a dog fight come April, we must stay in this league. Colin O'Donoghue worked well in the back row, with such a small squad we have players out of position and Colin was oustanding. The Man of the Match was Carl Barker."

Rhodri Hanmer, prop Rumney 1st XV : "We won a lot of ball but when Rhydyfelin were a man down we lacked a cutting edge, we were playing too deep. But it will come, we need a couple of lucky breaks and then we'll slaughter a few sides. The whole pack was outstanding in the driving mauls today, everybody worked hard."