The first matches of the new year saw a change to the leadership of Division One. YMCA Preachers secured a 26-10 win over Cwmbran Colts to take a narrow 1 point lead with 5 matches remaining. Once again Claire Flannagan produced a player of the match performance for the Preachers with her 3 wins. She was closely followed by team mate Eric Turner with his 3 wins. The surprise result in this match was the defeat of David Lloyd(Preachers) by the lower ranked John Thomas(Colts).
Despite beating Cwmbran Aztecs 24-10, Bristol Nomads drop to second place in Division One. The Nomads were indebted to a player of the match performance from Chris Price although he only just pipped his son Louis to that honour as they both won their 3 matches. Another surprise result in this match saw Peter Gordon defeat the much higher ranked Ian Maggs.
Cwmbran Blues, with their game in hand, still harbour hopes of challenging for the title. In their latest match they beat Blaenavon Aces 22-12. In the absence of David D Lloyd the Blues brought in Roger Grech who once again picked up the player of the match award with 3 wins. For the Aces Jonathan Allen had a good night with his only defeat coming in 5 sets against Grech, but, he gained an excellent win against the higher ranked Mark Farrow in 4 closely fought sets.
In Division Two Cwmbran Panthers appear to have an unassailable lead with 5 matches to go. In their latest match they defeated Cwmbran Eccentrics 22-8 thanks to a player of the match performance from Mike Blatchford with his 3 straight set wins. The only player to provide any challenge for the Eccentrics was Richard Lownsbrough with his 2 wins.
On their own in second place are Cwmbran Dynamos who secured a closely fought 23-15 win over Blaenavon Bulldogs. It was the Bulldogs who provided the player of the match in Lincoln Alford with his 3 wins, all in 5 sets. The surprise result in this match was the very good win of Callum Hunt over the higher ranked Star Limbu.
Probably the only position that is undecided at the moment is the battle for 3rd place. That position is currently held by Cwmbran Devils and their narrow 18-14 win over their closest rivals Cwmbran Fellows would have helped their cause. Wayne Ford with his 3 wins could not prevent his side going down. There were solid performances from the Devils' Stan Williams and in particular Colin Scott who very narrowly lost to Ford.
