THOUGH Abergavenny sat back after the break to give Nelson a glimpse of a comeback on Saturday, coach Gary Lawrence refused to criticise his side afterwards for their second half display.

He said: "We had a very strong first half and then went off the boil a bit, after they made a few changes at half time to strengthen up their scrum. We went to sleep a bit and our kicking was poor at times.

"We allowed them to counter attack and they found a chink in our armour. But we won the game with that first half performance and later worked out what our problems were in the second half and began defending a little better.

"We were always strong up front and dominated the scrum, although they had quite a good line out. We might have let them back into it but I was never too worried. It was a good win - a team performance - and everyone at the club is pleased with that."

Club chairman Mike Aylett added: "The whole team played well, it was an excellent performance all round. I was especially pleased with Matthew George, our number eight."