ABERYSTWYTH RFC made a winning start to life in Division One West, the highest level the club has ever achieved, as they registered a well-deserved 15-5 victory over Penclawdd at Plascrug last weekend.

Their opponents were also playing at this level for the first time, having been promoted as the runners-up to last season's Division Two West champions.

On a blustery afternoon, which made both goal kicking and line-out throwing difficult, Aber showed intent from the start.

A loose ball was whipped out to Sion Cowdy, making his debut out on the left wing, and with a lovely arcing run he made deep inroads into Penclawdd’s 22.The visitors, however, coped well with this initial attack and began asserting pressure of their own in the shape of their robust Number 13 Simon Stonham, who made some storming runs through the middle.

Eventually Aberystwyth got to grips with this threat, and effectively tackled him out of the game, the centres being helped notably by the impressive Paul Stubbs.

Penclawdd, nevertheless, worked their way into the Aberystwyth 22 and were awarded a penalty 5m out.

A quick tap from the scrum-half fed second row Mat Donohue, who crashed over in the corner for the opening try, which was unconverted.

Aberystwyth then went on to dominate the rest of the half, and with a series of pick and drives, they worked their way up-field and were awarded a penalty, which was advanced 10 yards by referee Richard Thomas. Up stepped Mathew Hughes, making his debut at fly-half, and he coolly slotted the kick to make the scoreline 3-5.

He unfortunately missed his next attempt after 22 minutes, but then made amends six minutes later with a towering penalty into touch deep in the Penclawdd 22. A very effective line-out catch and drive led to Paul Stubbs scoring the first home try.

The 8-5 scoreline remained, with Aber dominating territory, although the last two minutes of the half did see Penclawdd exert pressure on the line, which resulted in a rather harsh yellow card for James Plumridge.

Aberystwyth carried on in the second half where they left off by dominating territory to such an extent that they confined Penclawdd to their own half for the majority of the time.

The Aberystwyth pack carried effectively against a stubborn defence, although the height of some of their tackles were suspect to say the least.

This possession gave the Aber backs the chance to shine, with fly-half Mathew Hughes showing excellent vision with a chip and chase over the defence, almost leading to a score.

He also initiated some wrap-around moves, which created a lot of room, in particular for right winger Dean Coleman, who exploited these opportunities with some storming runs down the wing - and from one of these runs Aberystwyth were awarded a scrum in Penclawdd’s 22.

The Aberystwyth scrum, which improved as the game wore on, trundled the opposition backwards over their line for captain and Number 8 Lee Evans to touch down. The try was well converted by Mathew Hughes to make the final score 15-5 to Aber.

Man of the match Robbie Parry fully deserved his award for a whole-hearted display of ball carrying and especially his tackling which nullified many Penclawdd attacks at source.