Fixture

Abergavenny Quins 31-19 Blackwood Griffins

Blackwood Griffins suffered their second defeat of the season on the road despite a solid showing of heart with reduced squad numbers.

The Griffins were struck down early when a number of players were called into first team action leaving the Griffins with a bare squad.

Despite this set back the travelling squad showed a fine display of heart and guts to take them game to a strong Quins side.

Tries for the Griffins from Lewis Cardwell, Jacob Williams and Ryan Basham who helped the Griffins on permit saw the visiting side give it their all to eek out a result. 

The Griffins efforts weren't enough however as tries from Tom Jones, Oliver Wadly, Aaron Mills, Dan Davies and Freddie Sullivan pushed the win out of the Griffins' reach. 

The Quin's would strike early on with a try after just 2-minutes. 

A Smart tap penalty move well inside the griffins 22 saw Tom Jones force his way over and give his side the lead. 

The Griffins would fight their way back ahead on the 10-minute mark with a powerful try from Basham. 

Basham slotted into the scrum half position to pick off the back of the passive scrum and buldozed his way to the whitewash to bring the scores level with Ben Jones' conversion bringing the visitors ahead. 

It wasn't long however before the hosts regained their early lead through Aaron Mills who latched his hands onto a clever quick pass to give the winger an easy run in and allow the Quins to move back ahead. 

The Griffins would reduce the defecit with a try of their own from winger Jacob Williams who read the Quins' attack perfectly plucking the ball out of the air for an interception before racing to the corner to give the Griffins a foothold into the game. 

Another quick tap penalty for the Quins allowed the hosts to flex their muscle and extend the gap to the trailing Griffins going into the half time break. 

A quick tap from prop Dan Davies gave the front rower a clear route to the line. 

Through a mighty show of strength and power Powell cleared the covering Blackwood defence to extend his sides lead going into the break. 

Early into the second half and a long promosing pass from Griffins skipper Lewis Cardwell deep inside their 22 was intercepted by Quins winger Freddie Sullivan who dashed to the line to grab his second try of the afternopon. 

Oliver Wadly would seal the deal for the home side with their final try of the match running a great support line off Jones' shoulder allowed Wadly to cross over in the corner to all but confirm his sides victory.

A late consolation try from Cardwell was the Griffins reward for their hard work with the centre bashing his way to the try line after a wide pass from Jones found Cardwell out wide. 

Jones added the extras off the tee but it was too late for the Griffins to amount any sort of late comback. 

The Griffins now face Nelson at Glan Yr Afon park in two weeks time and with a much more bolstered squad available to them the Griffins will be looking to turn their efforts into reward and get their league campaign up and running.

Written By Max Drinkwater-James