Chief bows out with 87-point thriller

MERTHYR ........................... 43 ABERAVON ......................... 44

THERE was to be no fairytale farewell for Merthyr head coach Dale Mcintosh as he saw his side lose at the death to the Wizards in an 87-point, 13-try thriller at The Wern.

Mcintosh (above) is heading to Brecon this summer as their new rirector of rugby, but he was hoping to sign off with a win after considerable success during his time in charge of the Ironmen.

An eventful first half included eight tries, a red and a yellow card. Aberavon skipper Joe Tomalinreeves received his marching orders and opposite number Craig Locke a yellow card for a fracas on the halfhour mark.

Aberavon got off to a flyer and scored two identical tries after kicks to the corner. From the driving lineouts, Luke Davies and Cori Lewisjenkins scored and Dan Edwards marked his 19th birthday with the conversions.

Merthyr hit back just two minutes later when Arron Pinches collected a loose ball to score their first try of the afternoon, which was duly converted by Gareth Thompson.

Aberavon then scored their third, kicking to the try line, where Lewisjenkins jumped higher than two Merthyr defenders, landed on his back and turned over to dot down for his second try.

This was followed by a Iwan Temblett try, improved by Edwards, to make it 26 points in 20 minutes for the on-fire Wizards.

Merthyr hit back within four minutes to add their second and third tries, through Tom Daley and Sam Jones, to make it seven tries in the game before the 30-minute mark.

Before the break Aberavon added a fifth try from Aled Rees, once again converted by Edwards, to give them a 33-19 interval lead.

Aberavon picked up where they left off at the start of the second half as Ashton Evans scored their sixth try. However, a spirited Merthyr comeback with two converted tries from Jones and Locke, both converted by Gareth Thompson, cut the gap to five points.

Aled Thomas edged the visitors further ahead with a penalty before Merthyr closed the gap to three points through Pinches’ second try of the game.

Jones’ hat-trick try for Merthyr put them ahead for the first time, but Thompson couldn’t add the extras. Thomas then bisected the posts with a penalty three minutes from time to put Aberavon back in front, though Thompson missed a late kick.