Aberavon Fightin' Irish 1st Team News

BRIDGEND BLUE BULLS 32 ABERAVON FIGHTING IRISH 50 by Simon Green

Aberavon Fighting Irish deservedly won the opening match in the West Wales Conference with a 50-32 victory over reigning Harry Jepson Trophy champions, Bridgend Blue Bulls.

Bridgend were without over 20 players, many of whom were on union duty this weekend. Because of this, the Bulls team contained six players who had never before played rugby league before, the pick of which was Ryan Morgan who showed lightning pace in claiming his hat-trick while fellow debutants Michael Johns and Lee Beech had fine games.

Aberavon got off to a great start with an early try for wing Adam Dawe. He was soon followed over the try line by full-back Richard Lewis and stand off Liam Gadd with Gadd also kicking two goals to give the visitors a 16-0 lead.

But the young Bulls side fought back bravely and two quick tries from debut wing Ryan Morgan and a goal from Jon Williams brought Bridgend back to within six.

However a superb last ten first half minutes from the Fighting Irish saw them score three more tries through Matthew Bradley, Mike Healy and Greg Diks to give them a deserved 32-10 half-time lead.

The Bulls came out firing in the second half with an early try from Tongan wing Tylan Mafi gave them hope but a second try from Adam Dawe and scores from Ben Davies and Mark Burke put Aberavon 50-16 up and a record score looked on the cards.

But the Bulls were not going to down without a fight and two scores from Bridgend’s outstanding hooker Lloyd Paget plus a third from wing Ryan Morgan made the scoreline respectable.

For Aberavon, second row Robbie Morgan was outstanding and named man of the match while wing Adam Dawe and David Dyers were on top form as was the kicking from the excellent Liam Gadd. In this form the Fighting Irish can look forward to a very successful season.

he Swansea Valley Miners pulled off one of their best ever results as they overwhelmed the Aberavon Fighting Irish 48-14 at Ystalyfera.

The game started with a bang for the Swansea Valley Miners scoring a try in the first five minutes of the game, scored by loose forward Chris Beck and converted by Dane Clancy. The game continued with the Miners constantly attacking and scoring three more tries from full back Kyle Roberts, converted by Dane Clancy, Gareth Noble converted by Gareth James and the fourth try of the game scored by Jay Bevan also converted by Clancy. This saw the Miners going in at half time with a commanding 24 - 0 lead.

The second half started in much the same way as the first with a quick try from prop Kevin Allen which was converted by Clancy. The Miners scored their sixth try by Chris Roets straight from the kick off when the Irish fumbled the ball on the half way line, Roets collected the ball and ran through four tacklers before powering

  over the line, this was converted by Clancy. A second try came from prop Gareth Noble which was converted by Clancy before the Irish hit back with two quick tries from half back Dai Felton and Centre Gareth Lewis. The Miners scored their last try five minutes before the end of the game from prop Chris Wells which was again converted by Dane Clancy who contributed 14 points. The Irish had the last word with a consolation try from Centre Gareth Lewis which was converted by Dai Felton. The final score was 48-14.

After the game Miners player coach said “We had a really strong squad out today which we hope to keep together and we hope to build on this momentum and beat the Fighting Irish again on Saturday”.