CONSIDERING their lowly league position, Aberystwyth’s home match against Hendy was seen as a must-win game in Division One West last weekend.

The Ceredigion men duly obliged with a 36-21 bonus point victory against a side that was forced into a number of changes during the game, because of injuries.

The convincing scoreline did not reflect the game, but Aber will gladly pocket the win, and move on with confidence.

They started with a bang, when after two minutes Carwyn Evans intercepted a pass in midfield and did well to free his arms and feed Adam Carvell, who romped in from halfway for a try. Steff Rees converted from in front of the posts

The early indications were that the Aber scrum looked solid and comfortable, and this continued throughout the game. Aber increased their lead shortly later when Carvell intercepted a Hendy pass on half way and trotted in for his second try, which Steff Rees again converted.

The hosts were unlucky not to increase their lead when the referee deemed that they failed to ground the ball over the line after a series of forward drives.

Nevertheless they were not to be denied when they opted for a scrum from the resulting penalty, and following a couple of forward drives Bryn Shepherd forced his way over the line to score wide out.

Aberystwyth were playing well at this stage and they were denied another try when they were penalised for crossing. This seemed to inspire Hendy, who went on to dominate the next phase of the game, and quickly scored two converted tries to get them right back in the game.

The first was a penalty try, awarded after a sweeping backs move that saw their left winger denied a try illegally - and the second was scored after Aber failed to deal with a speculative chip ahead and full back Newman pounced on the ball to score by the posts, for Morris to convert.

Aber started the second half full of purpose and they quickly got on to the scoreboard with their bonus point try when, following an excellent forward drive, Paul Stubbs emerged to claim the try.

Steff Rees scored net next for the home side when under-pressure Hendy dropped the ball and Rees was alert enough to hack through and win a thrilling race from halfway to get the score.

Hendy kept plugging away and subjected Aber to a lot of pressure close to their line, and they reaped their reward for this pressure when, following an Aber yellow card, flanker Gareth Thomas burst over to score a try, converted by Morris.

Hendy sensed that they could get more out of this game, but Aber recognised the danger and imposed their own authority on proceedings. Hitherto their line-out work had been a bit flaky, but Dan Binks had a purple patch of line-out takes which turned the game for the hosts.

Following an excellent catch and drive from the Hendy 22 right up to the try-line Aber were denied a score illegally. They opted for a scrum, and when in the act of wheeling the Hendy scrum back over their own line. Hendy transgressed yet again the referee awarded another penalty try to make the final score 36-21.

Despite the difficult playing conditions this was an entertaining and high-scoring contest, from which Aberystwyth will be well pleased to emerge victorious.

On a sad note, the club extends its condolences to the family and friends of Mr Terry Pullman who passed away recently in America. Terry, along with Walter Craig, represented the club for a period during the late 1970’s during what was described as a cultural visit to Wales.