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Maesteg Celtic 2nds visited Nantyffyllon 2nds on a beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately once more the game started with passive scrums. Nanty chose to play down hill with a wind behind in the first half. It was a very well contested affair with the Celtic team running hard at their opponents. Forwards Mathew Jones, Nathan Jenkins, Neil Sainsbury and Scott Lyons were outstanding with ball in hand. Jumper Nathan Adams rose high above everyone in the lineout and was dominant throughout. Celtics powerful front row of Dale Cook, Neil Sainsbury and Captain Keith Stone had little to do in the scrum and therefore had the energy to impact the game in loose play. Scrum half Ian Herbert controlled the game well and allowed outside half Nathan Healey to dominate play. Centres Neil Arthur and Jamie Wooten carried the ball powerfully and back three of Gavin Joseph, Aaron Williams and Grant Healy were solid under a barrage of Nanty kicks.

The first half was played mainly in the Celtic half with the Nanty defence proving difficult to break down and their kicking game constantly pinning Celtic back every time they broke out. Celtic took the lead early in the second half when centre Neil Arthur threw a long pass to flanker Scott Lyons on half way. He made ground before passing inside to Arthur once more who returned the ball to Lyons on the loop. He put Captain Keith Stone clear to run in the try. Nathan Healey converted. Celtic went further ahead when a penalty kick took them to the Nanty line. The throw in missed all the jumpers and fell to Neil Sainsbury who ran through the lineout only to be stopped just short of the line. He popped the ball to scrum half Neil Arthur who found second row Mathew Jones arriving like a raging bull. Jones’ try was not converted.

The play was constantly interrupted by frequent errors by the Celtic team which resulted in two yellow cards allowed Nanty to get back in the game. Intense pressure rewarded them with a try to end the game.