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34 Abersychan 20
A win for Carn in spite of a poor performance

Cwmcarn entertained Abersychan at Pantside, which has become Carn's new spiritual home of late. The atmosphere was relaxed and expectation high, following Carn's recent resurgence and Abersychan struggling at the foot of the table. Expectations should have been lower and effort higher from the kick-off. Abersychan brought a  full squad with subs and were clearly pumped up for the game from the outset and just as they were at their ground in January; were tenacious at the breakdown and tackle area; causing Carn all kinds of problems and stopping them from getting any pattern to their game.
Aber struggled at scrum time, but their line-out was reasonable. They brought their old head back to shore up the loosehead side and this prevented the ref from calling passive scrums. Carn effectively took their foot off the gas at the scrums and Aber were changing front row personnel more than Jabba changes outfits before a night on the town. This was also a contributory factor to a lacklustre Carn performance.
The first half would see Carn score a good try, pat one another on the back for a job well done, whilst waiting for the next try to materialise - Nobody told Abersychan this and they followed up with good tries of their own; which meant Carn could never get more than one score ahead. A slender lead going into half-time, following tries from Gareth Price and Housey. One of the young whippersnappers from the Aber team took offence to Housey's barge over try; possibly because he got clattered and messed his hair up. In any event, he rather stupidly threatened the ref who had been completely impartial and saw red as a result.
Carn would have to up their game to rack up some points in the second half, as Abersychan would not be lying down, in spite of losing a player. The elements and slope were also against Carn.
Though there was some improvement and three further tries from Leggie, Jabba and Dan The Rant Evans that were well worked and finished off, Carn were never able to put Abersychan away in the manner they hoped and expected before the match started. It would be unfair to put this down to complacency only, as Aber played well and fought hard in every facet of the game. If they had been able to field decent sides like this for all their games, then they would not have been propping things up at the foot of the table.
The most evident thing lacking from Carn was go-forward ball. Our main man Hoppy was playing with man-flu, which as we all know is far worse than the girlie version. Jabba and Housey gave us some thrust, but it was all in fits and starts. Dan Evans was a force at ruck and maul time - Disappearing into the middle of an Aber maul and invariably popping up having muscled it away from them.
All in all a shoddy performance, but a bonus point win neverrtheless. The shoddiness was further emphasised by our coach Andy's little post-match chat, when he indicated that he had other uses for a corner flag other than marking the pitch...Personally I think the pole would only fit up Housey, Hoppy, Jabba and Hastings nostrils, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
STAND OUT PLAYER/s: Dan The Rant Evans - Tenacious at ruck and maul time. If there was a war on, he'd be a tunnel rat