Rumney : 15.M.Milsom 14.H.Amadife 13.M.Maclean 12.P.Niblett (Capt) 11.J.Offside 10.J.Macdonald  9.T.Dickens 1.N.Trevett  2.N.Ritchie 3.C.Gale 4.M.Kelly 5.A.Gardner  6.W.Price 7.R.Sutton 8.C.Jones  Replacements : P.Nash R.Hanmer M.Harrington C.Barker

Referee : P.Evans (Brynamman)

Scorers for Rumney : H.Amadife 2 tries, M.Maclean try, J.Macdonald penalty

Scorers for Maesteg Celtic : R.Thomas try, R.Hopkins try, N.Healey 2 penalties

Rumney faced possible defeat and an early cup exit when they came up against a young, spirited and free running Maesteg Celtic side at the Garth Welfare Park. The visitors attacked from the start but errors and infringements meant that no real progress was made and with Celtic repulsing the attacks and also hitting back through breaks by captain Nick Healy, closely supported by his forwards, there was little to separate the sides. After seventeen minutes Healey found a huge gap and broke out of his own twenty two with a searing run, backed up by mobile lock Everett and when they switched left, flanker Richard Thomas was on hand to finish off an excellent try. This was no dour cup encounter, both sides were determined to run the ball and with Ryan Sutton dominating the lineouts Rumney obtained plenty of possession, but despite powerful breaks by scrum half Tom Dickens and centre Matthew Maclean, they were unable to finish off movements and potential tries were lost.

Half way through the first period Rumney were awarded a penalty on their twenty two and Dickens burst up field, linking with lock Andrew Gardner and centre Paul Niblett to put Maclean away. The move then switched wide and back to Gardner whose good, long pass to fullback Matthew Milsom on the burst allowed him to feed wing Henry Amafide who warded off two tackles on his way to the line and the touchdown which brought the scores level at 5 - 5.

The visitors continued to play a wide game but still made errors and gave away penalties. Dickens and Healey created further exciting breaks for their respective teams and shortly before the interval Dickens devestated the Maesteg defence and set up a ruck with Sutton and lock Michael Kelly. The ball was switched wide to Niblett and on to Gardner whose quick pass set Maclean away, outpacing the opposition for a fine try.

Leading by 5 - 10 at the interval Rumney started the second half with more confidence, props Nathan Trevett and Charlie Gale finding gaps, Niblett and Gardner probing the middle of the field and Kelly, flanker Will Price and No8 Chris Jones carving out space for themselves. However, with sixty minutes on the clock Celtic replacement Ray Hopkins sliced through weak tackles for a good solo try which brought the scores level again at ten points all, and five minutes later Healey kicked a penalty which put the home side ahead again at 13 - 10.

With only ten minutes left to play Gardner gathered a loose kick, linked with hooker Neal Ritchie and wing Joey Offside to set up a ruck from which the ball flew along the threequarter line and Amadife hurtled in at the corner for his second try. Rumney's joy was short lived when Healey slotted a penalty to restore Celtic's lead to 16 - 15, but a loose kick out of defence landed the Maesteg forwards in an offside position where they played the ball. Referee Peter Evans awarded the penalty and Rumney outside half Macdonald landed the points which won the match, but the final minutes were tense ones with Celtic narrowly missing a penalty themselves and Rumney were very relieved to hear Mr Evans' whistle bring to an end this dramatic and exciting cup tie.

Jim O'Brien, Rumney RFC : "We started as if we were going to score fifty points and in the end we were fortunate to scrape a win. It is unbelievable that so many wrong decisions could be made in one game, but a win is a win. Scrum half Tom Dickens and centre Matthew Maclean did well but overall our first-up tackling was poor."

Above, left to right : Matthew Maclean, Nathan Trevett, James Macdonald