Report: Swansea RFC 13-10 Aberavon

By Adam Cleary

SWANSEA moved up to eighth in the Indigo Welsh Premiership after a dramatic finale saw them secure a 13-10 win against regional rivals Aberavon at St Helens

Aberavon opened the scoring early on when centre Will Price crashed over from close range.

Swansea hit back quickly when some nice play from winger Ben Cambriani and full back Phil Jones took the Whites to just outside of the Aberavon 22. The visitors were adjudged to have infringed at a ruck which gave Swansea fly-half James Davies the chance to make the score 3-5.

Swansea continued to apply the pressure and were soon inches away from getting their first try of the game.

Some Barbarians style offloading from Jay Williams and Matthew Aubrey saw centre Gareth Rees look destined for the try line before Aberavon’s Namibian international Lesley Klim forced a knock on with an incredible cover tackle.

But Swansea soon had their first try five minutes before the break when winger Ryan Griffiths was high-tackled and the hosts were awarded a penalty try to establish a 10-5 half-time lead.

The Wizards came firing out of the blocks as the second half got underway and levelled the scores when full-back Joe Gage put a lovely kick in behind the Swansea defence for No.8 Ashton Evans to score. Replacement fly half Aled Thomas missed the resulting conversion and the score remained locked at 10-10.

The game really game to life in the dying moments as Swansea were awarded a penalty in Aberavon’s 22 after an infringement which gave Swansea fly-half Davies the chance to put his side ahead with a few minutes remaining. He slotted the kick with ease and put the home side 13-10 up.

There was time for the resulting kick off and this led to Aberavon winning a kickable penalty with time up to level the game. However, the visitors wouldn’t settle for a draw and went to touch with the penalty resulting in a lineout five metres away from Swansea’s line.

Swansea battled hard in defence keeping Aberavon at bay and the Whites thought they had won it when a loose Aberavon pass was hacked downfield by Tom Williams.

But Aberavon gathered the resulting kick and attacked from deep.

There were more than 90 minutes on the clock when winger Klim linked up with Tomalin-Reeves taking Aberavon into the Swansea 22 yet again.

It looked inevitable the visitors were going to grab a late winning try when Klim was held up inches away from the whitewash.

A few phases later Aberavon did get over the line however the referee deemed the ball to be held up, handing Swansea a well-earned victory.

Swansea face RGC at St Helens next in the Indigo Premiership, while Aberavon travel to Parc Y Scarlets to take on Llanelli.