The Green & Whites 100% winning start to the season came to an end at the Park as Risca scored two injury-time converted tries to overhaul Tillery's 14-13 lead. The Cuckoos perhaps just about deserved the spoils for their territorial dominance late in the second half, although the final margin of victory which denied their hosts even a bonus point was extremely flattering.

Tillery battled hard throughout, perhaps too hard on occasion. The precision displayed in the games to date deserted them crucially at times with some forced passes and wrong options taken. Risca, especially scrum half, Morgan and and wing Fraser, looked sharp on the counter attack and they fed off Tillery's errors to stay in the game and eventually capitalise on them to score their late winning tries.

The visitors took the lead in the ninth-minute as Fraser's run down the right set up experienced full back Chad Bushell who broke free of a tackle to go over for try converted well by Rhys Carpenter.

It took Tillery less than five minutes to draw level as Luke Pegler finished off a driving maul to score a try, Chris Stevens adding the extra two points. At this point, the Tillery scrum in particular was well on top and the home side enjoyed the lion's share of possession and territory, though without adding to their tally, with the visitors midfield defence pushing the offside laws to the limit.

Scrum half Morgan relieved the pressure for Risca with a neat break but his inside pass went astray before another break by him set up a penalty opportunity for Carpenter who duly accepted to give his team the interval lead.

H-T: 7 - 10

Risca prop Davies was fortunate not to see yellow almost immediately after the break as he cynically blocked Chris Stevens who was chasing his chip over the top. Tillery set up good field positions but vitally failed to retain possession before eventually retaking the lead as Craig Meredith crashed over from a scrum for a try converted by Stevens.

The Cuckoos started to gain parity at the scrum and indeed put some pressure on home ball and when home centre Matthew Penny was sin-binned at a breakdown, Risca got the upper hand territory-wise. Tillery's defence held firm though and Risca's only reward was a Carpenter penalty to get within a point with five minutes remaining.

The half had been punctuated with several injuries, including one to Chris Stevens that necessitated his leaving the field, which interrupted the flow of play and led to a significant spell of injury time.

With the forty minutes of regulation time up, Tillery won good scrum ball but an unnecessary forced pass went forward and it was to prove crucial as Risca secured resultant scrum ball on their 10-metre line. The ball was spread wide out right with a very clever flick pass in midfield creating an overlap for wing Craig Fraser. He motored down the flank and cut inside before finding Morgan on the scissors in good support and the impressive scrum half raced clear to score a try for a late 20-14 lead.

From the restart, Tillery pressed but lost possession, a long kick driving them back deep into their own 22. Good chasing by the Risca backs forced a turn over and replacement centre Walker went over with almost the last move of the game for a converted try that secured the 27-14 win and denied Tillery a bonus point.

Abertillery scorers:
Tries - Luke Pegler, Craig Meredith
Conversions - Chris Stevens (2)

Website Abertillery man of the match - Kevin Day