Fixture

Maesteg Celtic faced league leaders Aberavon Quins on Garth Park for the first match of the second half of the season. It was an intense encounter with no quarter asked of given. Both packs of forwards contested possession ferociously, with the Celtic front five of Sean Lambert, Morgan Reeves, Mark Wilkins, Kieran Power and Alex Jones taking the ball at the visitors relentlessly.

Celtic opened the scoring when outside half Tom George kicked into the visitors 22 and great following up by wing Lee Arthur prevented the visitors from clearing their 22. Celtic put pressure on the defence but had to concede a scrum. The Celtic pack put a push on and the Quins number 8 was forced to kick. Great anticipation by Alex Jones allowed him to charge the ball down and he followed up to score the try. Tom George converted.

Celtic went further ahead when scrum half Liam Healy broke through the defence and made ground before linking up with Alex Jones. The visitors killed the ball at the break down and George kicked the ensuing penalty.

The second half was as fiercely contested as the first but Quins were not able to break the solid defence of the Celtic three quarter line. Centres Sam Mines and Kristian Jenkins tackled everything thrown at them while the back three of Lee Arthur, Scot James and Morgan Lloyd covered every attack and returned the possession with interest. Outside half Tom George kicked 2 more penalties to increase Celtics lead.
The intensity of the encounter resulted in Celtic sustaining injuries to flanker Jonathan Davies, wing Scot James and centre Sam Mines. Celtic replacements Simon Lent, Mathew Phillips, Rhys Bevan Jones, Ben Poole and Leon Evans fitted in seamlessly and although Quins pounded the home defence, they were unable to put any points on the board. All 20 Celtic players deserved the Man of the Match award but it was shared between scrum half Liam Healy and flanker Tom Mines.