RGC miss out in late drama:
RGC suffered a second successive defeat as they were beaten at home by Aberavon.
Fortunes turned in the final minutes of the game with the visitors grabbing a late try and conversion to take the win.
Even at the end RGC had a chance to take the lead but Billy McBryde couldn’t find the posts with a penalty from distance.
If supporters were expecting a fast-pace running game, then it didn’t
pan out that way in the opening 40 minutes.
Sporadic attacks, with plenty of scrums and penalties was the theme. Much of the play was in the middle of the pitch and the most worked was the referees whistle.
RGC were also forced into three substitutions in the half, two props and fullback all being switched early.
Iolo Evans made a couple of powerful runs with ball in hand, and tacklers taken with him.
Aberavon took the lead after the ball was moved wide and winger Alex Varney went over.
The Wizards had most of the possession in the first half, but RGC were putting in a shift without the ball in a physical clash.
As the game edged towards half-time, RGC gained a foothold and went close to the line on a couple of occasions.
The set piece began to fire, and the pressure was cranking up on the visitors’ defence.
RGC opted for the line-out from the penalty, and it worked well for them.
The driving maul sent them on their way with George Roberts popping out from the back to go over for the try. McBryde nailed the difficult conversion to give them the lead at the break.
McBryde extended the lead in the second half with a penalty as the game opened up with more space around the field.
Garland answered soon after with a penalty of his own to keep the Wizards in the game
The Gogs were playing much of the game in the Aberavon half, and managing to exit with good defensive work at times.
Bailey Rae made a great tackle to stop Varney from running in at the corner, when it looked like the try was on.
Aberavon were racking up the penalties and McBryde had a chance to pull them away again but misfired with the boot.
Games are won and lost at crucial moments, and after Aberavon kicked ahead Rae collected the ball but then a wayward kick gave the Wizards the ball back and they took full advantage.
A couple of phases and penalties later they had the scrum and the power to cross the line for the try before Garland hit the winning conversion.
RGC will look back at decisions at key times and whether they were the correct ones in the heat of the moment, and in hindsight they might find they might not have been.