Three years on from their senior counterparts winning the WRU National Bowl Trumper’s men followed suit and as weathered an early storm from Cwmavon before dominating the second half. If they were good value for their win, Cwmavon were hugely competitive throughout.
“It’s absolutely amazing. We had such a big build up to today and we’d really been looking forward to it. We put in a performance and the result doesn’t really matter because we won in the end,” said the victorious Abergavenny skipper and No 8, Trumper.
An early penalty from outside half Evan Wyatt earned Abergavenny thee opening points, but it looked as though the men in black from Cwmavon were going to score the opening try as they battered away for a vital score.
There was huge defence from both sides and the ferocity of some of the hits from Cwmavon stopped the big ball carriers from the Gwent side in their tracks. The intensity meant there were a number of turn-overs and few points in the first half.
Abergavenny’s back row finally began to make headway after the break and the game’s first try came in the left corner when lock Seren Strong-Wright muscled his way over in the fifth attempt to crack the Cwmavon defensive wall from a five metre penalty.
Flanker Harri Williams was next to break through and Wyatt’s conversion stretched the lead to 12 points. It was getting tougher and tougher from Cwmavon on the scoreboard and then they lost lock Morgan Hines to the sin-bin to make things even harder.
Shortly after his departure, and with a penalty coming for a deliberate knock-on, Abergavenny struck again. This time it was a shot-to-nothing towering cross field kick by Wyatt that paved the way. The ball was spilled under pressure on their line by Cwmavon and replacement wing Sam Woolley had the simplest task to gather the bouncing ball and touch down for a try that Wyatt improved to seal the deal.
To their credit, Cwmavon displayed their fighting spirit to the death and picked up a consolation try from Harri Lewis wide out on the left after good continuity and great handling. Outside half Lewis Slee’s touchline conversion was even better.
Scorers: Abergavenny: Tries: Seren Strong-Wright, Harri Williams, Sam Woolley; Cons: E Wyatt 2; Pen: E Wyatt. Cwmavon: Try: Harri Lewis; Con: Lewis Slee; Pen: Lewis Slee
