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Maesteg Celtic 33 v 7 Aberavon Quins

Maesteg Celtic faced a strong Aberavon Quins team in their opening game in Division One (West Central). Conditions were perfect for a good game of rugby and both teams did not disappoint. Both packs competed strongly in all aspects of the encounter with Quins driving powerfully at the Celtic defence to little avail. Celtic front five of Ryan Shearan, Ashley Poole, Tom Evans, Alex Jones and Captain Oliver Petty contained their opponents’ attempts to break their line, while Celtic back row of Peter Kehoe, Ryan Turner and man of the match Jonathan Davies were awesome. They were everywhere in defence and attack. Celtic half backs Liam Healy and Matthew Harris distributed the ball well and centres Kristian Jenkins and Morgan Harris used it to great effect. The back three of Lloyd Jenkins, Ryan Lovatt and Scot James gathered every kick by the Quins and ran them back with interest.

Celtic opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour when unusually for him, hooker Ashley Poole missed his jumper Alex Jones and the ball fell to Oliver Petty. He looped to the short side of the lineout and passed to Jonathan Davies who gave the ball inside to Peter Kehoe. He drew the defence and passed to wing Lloyd Jenkins who ran 30 metres beating three defenders to touch down in the corner. Quins took the lead when their outside half received the ball in open play and jinked and dodged his way through the defence to touch down. He also converted the try. Just before half time Quins kicked deep into the home 22 and full back Scot James caught the ball and counter attacked. He linked up with wing Lloyd Jenkins who made ground before putting flanker Jonathan Davies clear to run 40 metres in for the touchdown. Matthew Harris converted.

Celtic made a number of changes in the second half with Lee Arthur going to scrum half, Rhys Bevan Jones to second row, Mathew Phillips to prop and Nathan Adams to flanker. The Celtic pack began to take control of the scrumages and from one near half way, Oliver Petty picked up from number 8 and dummied two players before putting wing  Ryan Lovatt clear to run in the try. Harris converted.  Celtic began to dominate territory and spent some time battering the Quins defence. Scrum half Lee Arthur broke through and took the ball to the visitors’ line. After several attempts by the pack to cross the line, flanker Jonathan Davies drove over and spun loose to touch down. Harris converted. Celtic ended the game with an excellent try by centre Kristian Jenkins who had had a great game. Flanker Peter Kehoe ripped the ball from a Quins maul 30 metres out and ran for the line. Kristian Jenkins was on his shoulder when he was tackled and he passed to Scot James who sprinted clear for the touchdown. Harris converted.

Celtic players, committee and supporters were overjoyed with this 5 try introduction to division one. The intense preparation that Coach Kieran Power had put them through surely paid off!