Fixture

Dowlais Vs Abergavenny 30/11/2024 Match Report

Score:

Abergavenny: 3

Dowlais: 17

A triumphant, well-deserved victory for Dowlais this week, away against Abergavenny.

With only one win under their belt all season and several agonisingly close defeats, as the kick-off whistle blew over the drizzly Abergavenny ground, Dowlais were eager to finally take one of their matches all the way and to secure yet another victory.

The first few minutes of game were tense, evenly matched ones, with possession passing back and forth and both sides hovering around the halfway, neither venturing into the other’s twenty-two quite yet.

This stalemate, coupled with the agonising comeback defeat that they’d suffered at the same ground the previous season, certainly kept Dowlais’ supporters on edge to see who would get the first points on the board and take control of the match.

But in pleasantly surprising fashion, unlike many of their other matches of the season up until that point, where they were the first to concede, and spent most of or even the entirety of the match chasing a lead, this week, Dowlais would actually strike first, with a lightning-fast, long run try along the wing, touched down by Kamil Filaski and converted by Ioan Pritchard.

With the visitors having claimed an early 0-7 lead, spirits began to rise among their supporters, but cautiously so. Not even ten minutes had passed yet, and although their lead was nice to have, it was far from a massive one – only one sloppy play or missed tackle away from being broken.

Dowlais needed to stay on their toes.

But despite this cautious feeling in the air, Dowlais would very well nearly score again just a few minutes later. This second try attempt would unfortunately be foiled, but still, the fact that they’d gotten so close certainly made the boys look like strong contenders.

But despite those turbulent few minutes, the match would slow down for a bit from that point, with Dowlais’ short, uneasy lead remaining mostly in place, with the exception of a penalty kicked by Abergavenny at around the twenty-minute mark.

But while no further tries would be scored during this time, subtly and slowly, Abergavenny began to pick up steam, with their plays straying closer and closer to Dowlais’ try line.

They may not have had much to show for their efforts yet, but slowly, it appeared as though they were getting there.

Thankfully, these fears would be alleviated quite a bit as the half closed in on its final ten minutes, when Dowlais would secure a second converted try, this time touched down by Kieron Thomas and converted by Ioan Pritchard once again, bringing the score to 3-14.

With a second try under their belts, Dowlais and their lead certainly began to seem a lot more secure, and for a moment, it began to seem as though they’d be able to make it to the second half without much incident or struggle.

But as the half-time whistle loomed closer and closer, the momentum that Abergavenny had slowly been accumulating all half finally began to come together.

In the final minutes of the half, Dowlais found themselves under heavy pressure in their own twenty-two, facing a powerful, last-minute offensive from Abergavenny, the home side clearly intent on taking a chunk out of their lead before half-time by any means necessary.

Although they seemed to be holding out well, with the ferocious, prolonged assault that they were facing, it only seemed like only a matter of time before Abergavenny broke through for a try just before half-time, a sobering prospect that Dowlais knew all too well, and one that seemed all too similar to their loss on the same ground the prior season.

Even though Abergavenny wouldn’t have time to take the lead before half-time, scoring in such a manner, right at the last second, surely wouldn’t bode well for the second half.

But incredibly, despite all of that, Dowlais managed to survive the onslaught, and defended on their own try-line until the half-time whistle, leaving the first forty minutes of the game behind with their lead of 3-14 intact.

As you can probably tell by looking at the final score at the beginning of this report, there weren’t many points scored in the second half, but that doesn’t mean that it was an uneventful one.

For the opening stretch of the second forty minutes, Abergavenny’s offensive efforts remained just as ferocious, with Dowlais once again finding themselves defending tooth-and-nail in their own twenty-two for several minutes. But once again, the boys would succeed in holding them off, escaping with a kick to touch, before keeping the ball in the home side’s half for a while.

And for the most part, the remainder of the match would continue in that same manner, yet another back-and-forth, with Abergavenny trying with all their might to finally break through Dowlais’ lines, and Dowlais doing their best to keep them out of their half whenever they could.

While Dowlais would have one last close try attempt as the match entered its final quarter, for the most part, they seemed to focus their efforts on defence, and keeping the match in Abergavenny’s half, a tactic which they would see great success with.

While the half would noticeably get quite scrappy towards the end, with both sides getting a number of yellow cards (two for Abergavenny and three for Dowlais), through it all, Dowlais’ defence remained solid.

In the midst of it all, Dowlais would get a few more points under their belt in the form of a penalty, kicked by Ewan Griffits, a kick whose resulting three points would end up being the last ones of the match.

While Abergavenny would continue to push with all their might to score until the very last minute, in the hopes of at least getting a losing bonus point, Dowlais’s defence would hold strong until the very end, ending the match off with a final score of 3-17, a hard-fought, long overdue victory for the visitors.

Overall, while perhaps not the most glamorous or incredible in terms of the try count or final score, I’d say that this was an excellent win for Dowlais.

The star of the show this week was definitely Dowlais’s defence. While both of their tries in the first half were very impressive, they were relatively few in number, and likely would have been all for naught if not for the excellent defensive efforts that followed.

Considering how long their lead lasted and the amount of pressure that they were under during the latter stages of the first half and almost the entirety of the second half, the fact that the boys managed to hold strong, prevent Abergavenny from taking the lead and prevent them from scoring any tries all game at that are all things for them to be truly proud of.

A special mention needs to go to the final minutes of the first half, where Dowlais fought with all their might to prevent Abergavenny from scoring before half-time, a success that very well could have saved their chances of winning the match.

After several painfully close defeats this season, matches that were lost by just a few minutes of sloppy or careless play in an otherwise solid performance, it really was wonderful to see Dowlais finally keep it together until the very end, to earn a victory that they so desperately needed – a victory that the boys should be very proud of.

Let’s hope that this success continues next week, when Dowlais play Monmouth away.