CARDIFF CITY RL 18 ABER VALLEY WOLVES 20

By Nathan Davies at Rumney RFC

Aber Valley Wolves secured a close 20-18 win over Cardiff City RL but the game was stopped ten minutes early due to a serious injury to Simon Reece.

The Cardiff full-back suffered a sickening blow to the head in a tackle. With player safety paramount, there was no further action played and referee Ian Jones called an end to the match.

Reece had eight staples to the head and stayed in hospital for observations.

The match itself was a classic. It was a great start by Cardiff as they put sustained pressure on the Aber Valley line, the resulting play saw Kane Evans cross for the first try of the afternoon as the loose forward picked up from back of scrum and powered over from 10 metres out. Kyle Rose added the extras.

Both teams traded attacking sets before Daniel Davies kicked ahead and chased his own kick and scored in the corner for the visitors. Davies then failed to convert his try.

A great tackle by Richard Smith in midfield dislodged the ball from Aber Valley, Cardiff attacked with venom from the resulting scrum and Paul King crossed the whitewash to score the hosts second try of the afternoon, Kyle Rose adding the extras.

Aber Valley started to batter the Cardiff line with a wave of direct carriers but the city boys hold out firm and the half time whistle sounded. 12-4 at the break.

Early in the second half, a knock on from the Aber Valley saw the ball picked up by Jamie Leech who played the whistle and crossed unopposed, Kyle Rose adding the conversion.

Aber Valley hit back as the stepping Daniel Davies, ran over the line but again failed to add the extras.

Aber Valley then introduced to the field Scorpion Dai Evans who was straight into the mix of things and scored his first try of the afternoon. Daniel Davies converted taking the score to 18-14.

Aber Valley applied more pressure and great play again from Evans saw Ryan Williams cross under the posts, converted by Davies in a move that ended up being the winner.

Cardiff City Head Coach Ben Thomas said: “We were very happy with the first half performance and the boys pulled together after a few last minute changes. We felt we were in the game right up to the last play when Simon suffered the injury, everyone at Cardiff wishes him a speedy recovery.”

Aber Valley head coach Bobby Andrews said: “It was a fantastic close game could have gone either way. The game was littered with penalties and errors but played in right spirit with some huge hits. We’re pleased to get the win.”

• Torfaen Tigers had what chairman Rob Davies described as a “bad day at the office” as they went down 88-0 away at London Chargers in Conference League South.