WRU Division 1 west.
Aberystwyth 27 Crymych 7
Crymych ended a disappointing year with defeat at the hands of cross border rivals Aberystwyth and the Preselimen face a tough battle to remain in division one.
A succession of injuries and player unavailability has hit the north Pembrokeshire club very hard in recent months with only one win to show for a great deal of effort and they need to pick up a couple of wins in the new year to get themselves back on course.
The scrum was a huge problem for the visitors initially although they were fortunate that the Plascrug men had to resort to passive scrums when they lost a couple of front rowers through injury.
Aber opened the scoring when they were awarded a penalty try for a succession of scrum infringements. The hosts then lost Dan Binks to a dead leg after ten mins to be replaced by Arwel Lloyd but they continued to attack and after a strong run down the right by full-back Gwern Penri Aber retained possession and following a number of forward drives they were awarded a penalty which outside-half Llyr Thomas kicked to increase the lead to 10-0.
Crymych came back into the game and scrum-half Dafydd Phillips made a fine break but a crucial tackle by Gwern Penri nullified the threat. After 20 mins Aber lost Prys Lewis to what was subsequently diagnosed as a broken arm to be replaced by Owain Bonsall. This resulted in uncontested scrums which nullified a huge Aber threat at the set piece.
Crymych hit back when centre Carwyn Phillips intercepted a long pass on the hosts ten metre line to canter over unopposed to score under the posts which was converted by Carwyn Jones. Aber replied almost immediately with a try of their own when Carwyn Thomas crashed over following a series of forward drives to score and Llyr Thomas converted to make the score 17-7.
Skipper and number Aber Lee Evans increased the home lead just before the break when he spotted a gap in the defence and he ran in unopposed to score to make the half-time score 22-7.
The second half was a bit of a drab affair with defences cancelling each other out but Crymych came back strongly in the final quarter but some aggressive defending kept them out. The home side completed the scoring late on when following another efficient line-out catch and drive outstanding flanker Paul Stubbs was driven over to score the vital bonus point try to close out the game at 27-7.
