Aberavon 18 Neath 43
Saturday 20th September 2003

MATCH REPORT

Neath stormed to a convincing victory at the Talbot Athletic Ground where they relieved Aberavon of their invincible tag in no uncertain terms.

Quicker in thought and deed, the All Blacks looked the sharper side throughout and in the second-half they eased away from a tired-looking Aberavon unit who failed to live up to their pre-match hype and were labelled "pedestrian and one-dimensional" by their own rugby director Chris O'Callaghan whose programme article seemed inspired by rugby of a by-gone age.

Neath made 10 changes from the experimental side that lost 18-21 to Llanelli in midweek and among the changes was a surprise recall for ex-Wales flanker Brett Sinkinson. He marked his return with a try and helped give Neath a crucial edge in the loose although Aberavon's set-piece play was sound and Tonna Youth product Chris Gittins did very well at the lineouts on top of his try-scoring display in the win over Swansea.

Behind the pack, Patrick Horgan gave a typically abrasive display at the base of the scrum and in outside-half Chris Anderson Neath have unearthed a goalkicker who is purely Thorburn-esque in his execution. Young Anderson fired over six kicks against Llanelli and collected another 28 points here with five penalties, four conversions and a sharp try after quick-thinking by partner Horgan.

Already, Chris Anderson has 50 points in the League and when the highly promising Matthew Jones is fit again Neath will have two rare talents battling for the No.10 shirt. Outside Anderson, the young centres John Leyshon from Crynant and Wayne Mitchell from Skewen belied the fact that they are just out of youth rugby and they sealed the midfield in a steely grip while the running of Gareth Morris from full back brought him two tries.

Aberavon just never got going or were never allowed to get going. One Aberavon man said "Neath were playing a different game to us." They did score two tries, the first a well-worked effort by another former Tonna man full back Richard Price, the second by outside-half Jamie Davies who added a conversion and two penalties but, held at forward where key ball-carrier No.8 Richard Morris was constantly cut down by Neath tacklers, they ran out of ideas.

Neath's 21st century rugby did their talking for them and Aberavon have succeeded against Neath only twice in the last 29 games. Much was made of Aberavon's pleasure at seeing the old fixture resumed but that pleasure was more than matched by Neath fans.

Over 2,000 watched the game which suggests that these are the fixtures the fans want and big crowds are coming back. Neath expect a big following on Saturday when Swansea come to The Gnoll (2.00 pm) for a real top of the table clash.