Rumney : 15.G.Bowen 14.P.Carlton 13.A.Jones 12.P.Niblett (Capt) 11.A.Carlson 10.D.Clark  9.C.Miller 1.J.Leadbeatter  2.C.O'Donoghue 3.C.Fitzpatrick 4.M.Kelly  5.A.Morris 6.R.Sutton 7.M.Way 8.S.Coles  Replacements : M.O'Neill M.Feneck C.Gale R.Fenton

Referee : Huw David, Bridgend

Scorers for Rumney : A.Carlson try, C.O'Donoghue try, R.Sutton try, D.Clark conversion

Scorers for Llantrisant : penalty try, H.David try, C.Doster try, J.Halford conversion, H.Johns penalty

The top two teams in the division clashed in this tight, no holds barred encounter at Riverside Park in front of a large, good natured crowd which was rewarded for venturing out on a cold but clear night with a display of intense, committed rugby. Both sides started strongly but most of the early action was in the Rumney half of the field where Llantrisant kept play tight in the forwards but were held out by a resilient home defence which featured outstanding tackling by flankers Matthew Way and Ryan Sutton and prop John Leadbeatter. In the twenty fifth minute The Black Army drove forward at a close range scrum and with the Rumney pack slipping on the sticky surface, Mr David decided that the home side was deliberately disrupting the set piece and he awarded a penalty try. Llantrisant outside half Jason Halford added the conversion for a seven point lead but within five minutes Rumney hit back when a scintillating break by outside half Danny Clark led to centre Paul Niblett putting left wing Andrew Carlson clear to run in a superb try. Clark's conversion tied the scores and a good period for the home side followed with No8 Stuart Coles and locks Michael Kelly and Andy Morris taking play mostly into the visitors' half of the field. Rumney were however starting to display a number of handling errors and confusion at a lineout led to a Llantrisant free kick from which they reached the home posts and then unexpectedly threw the ball out wide where second row Hugh David was waiting to collect and dive over.

The half time score read Rumney 7 Llantrisant 12 and despite a positive and aggressive start to the second period, Rumney allowed more errors to creep in and again found themselves defending their line. Another controlled drive from a five metre scrum took Llantrisant to the try line and a snap pass put right wing Cameron Doster in for the try which stretched his side's lead to 7 - 17. Despite their substantial lead Llantrisant were now finding it hard to contain the home pack and with a man in the sin bin they conceded a try when Sutton took clean ball in the lineout and prop Craig Fitzpatrick and Coles led the drive which was finished off with the touchdown by hooker Colin O'Donoghue. Counterattacks by Morris and Way and intrusions by Rumney backs Anthony Jones, Phil Carlton and Gareth Bowen put them into an even more commanding position and in the sixty sixth minute Way took clean lineout ball for Clark and Niblett to set Carlson away again on an excellent break which lead to Sutton crashing over for the try which brought the teams level at 17 - 17. More errors soon allowed the Llantrisant pack to return deep into Rumney territory where they found hooker Michael Feneck and prop Charley Gale more than capable of stopping their close drives, but the home side was finding it increasingly difficult to break out and in the seventy eighth minute they killed the ball and Llantrisant's replacement outside half Huw Johns landed an excellent long range penalty to put the visitors back into the lead. Rumney scrum half Chris Miller valliantly tried to hit back but after a turnover the Black Army showed their ability at keeping the ball and they ran down the clock for a hard but well earned 17 - 20 victory.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "We knew that it would be tough up front and that we would have to have good set pieces but the scrum did not go to plan today. The lineout was ok, we had quality possession on our own ball, but in the first half we put down two balls in try scoring positions. We had no territory and were on the back foot for most of the first half except for the last ten minutes when we pulled through, but as soon as we did have the ball we panicked and threw silly passes. The second half was better but Llantrisant are the best side in this league, they came with a game plan which worked very well and they taught us how to play ten man rugby, but fair does to our boys, they stuck at it and scored two lovely tries. The Man of the Match was Ryan Sutton."

Mike Peard, Forwards Coach Rumney 1st XV : "Llantrisant's game plan was simple and effective, they kept the ball and won the game that way. They showed us that we must secure the ball from kick offs but the Rumney players tackled their hearts out and at seventeen all it could have gone either way. Llantrisant were a bit more streetwise and deserved to win but we'll bounce back !"

Stuart Coles, No8 Rumney 1st XV : "Obviously it was very disappointing because at the warm up we said that the key thing was to avoid mistakes and then we made a lot of them, and kept on making them. Even though we played poorly by our standards, we only lost to a late penalty and that is the most frustrating thing. In fairness to Llantrisant, they were well organised, they targetted our scrum, which is something that not many teams have managed to do, and they deserved to win. It is most important that we don't let our season go off the rails from here on, if we look at where we are compared to last year we've made massive progress and can still go up."