Feature Match: WRU National Division Two Cup – Third Round: 

Seagulls sunk by Quins’ power-play

Fishguard & Goodwick 7 - Aberavon Quins 31

Fishguard’s hopes of moving forward in the National Division Two Cup were rocked early on as they conceded an early score, despite having use of the strong winds blowing down The Moors, and were 24-0 down at half time against a powerful Aberavon Quins’ team which is unbeaten in Division Two (West Central) and clearly having their eyes on promotion.
 
At least The Seagulls could look back on the fact that they battled really hard after the interval as they resisted The Quins’ expected points’ glut from the visitors with the elements in their favour – and shared 14 points with opponents who at one stage were reduced to 12 men after being given a red card and two yellow cards.
 
Indeed, the final margin of victory didn’t really reflect The Seagulls’ part in the game as they had several periods of pressure close to The Quins’ line, especially in the first period but a mixture of poor passing under pressure and taking poor options cost them dearly.
 
And The Quins had an outstanding player in centre Connor O’Callaghan, who featured all they his team did well, with his solid defence allied with his pace, ability to break through tackles with seeming ease, and passing ability, which he served early notice of when he put co-centre Morgan Kennerley over for an unconverted try.
 
The Seagulls went close via Jac Delany, Rhys Lewis, and Bryn Thomas but chances came and went before the Quins added seven points, despite a superb cover tackle by winger Dom Sinnott just before – only for scrum half Max Phillips recycled the ball and flanker Drew Kinsey piled over in the left corner before No 10 added a remarkable conversion in the conditions.
 
The Quins showed their ability to turn defence into attack as their skipper Callum Beynon secured turn-over ball and play was spread into the left corner by O’Callaghan for winger Kieran Piles to score an unconverted try – and right on the interval they grabbed a fourth as O’Callaghan again put Kennerley in for his second try before Ryan Pugh added the extra points.
 
The second-half was something of a forward battle in which Fishguard brought on their experienced ‘Bomb Squad’ of experienced players in Simon James, Liam Wilkes and Ryan McVeigh to bolster their young pack and it was Wilkes, making a welcome return in the hooker’s berth scored their only try.
 
Max Phillips responded for the Quins, his try converted by Pugh, after a good run initiated by Pugh and the ubiquitous O’Callaghan – and so The Seagulls bowed out, but with experience gained against a physically hard opposition who also had high skill levels aplenty.
 
Fishguard & Goodwick: Dan Evans: Ed Rathbone; Dec Thomas; Jac Delaney; Dom Sinnott: Dylan James; Will Thomas:  Wil Delaney; Will Robinson; Iwan McVeigh: Osian Rowe; Cai Llewellyn: Bryn Thomas; Jack Richards; Rhys Lewis (Capt). Replacements:  Liam Wilkes; Ryan McVeigh; Simon James; Alun George.
 







 

Second Feature Match – Division Four (West):

Saints see off Llangwm to retain Johnny James’ Memorial Cup

Llangwm 15 - St Davids 36
 

 
St Davids made better use of the conditions to overcome Llangwm and Pill Parks, overcoming a difficult start before running in six tries for a bonus point win and retention of the Johnny James Trophy, played annually between the clubs in memory of The Wasps late livewire hooker who enjoyed the matches between the clubs.
 
On a heavy surface at Pill Parks, the Wasps has first use of the wind and enjoyed early pressure with No.10 George James kicking a penalty. However, then were then dealt a hammer blow as away full back Fred Dorn counter attacked from a clearance kick and set up Luke Bamford to score out wide.
 
With second row Iestyn Owen outstanding, the Saints struck again when skipper Nathan Foster won the race to a grubber kick to score, but Llangwm levelled at 10-10 as No.15 Euan Macdonald cut over and James converted.
 
But it was the visitors, who also had Dorn yellow-carded for killing the ball near his own line, who led at the interval as No.8 George Raymond carried powerfully from close range for another five -pointer.
 
The second half was equally combative as Raymond, Saints replacement Aled Davies and home hooker Callum Jenkins all received 10 minutes in the stands but it was Bruce Evans' side that took command. Prop Ben Lloyd rounded off a series of phases from a lineout by crashing over before the impressive Dorn went almost the length of the field for a try under the posts.
 
Bob Froy converted both times and also added the extras when centre Harvey Lavin completed the away scoring by finishing off a slick backs’ move, although the hosts did grab a second score before the whistle as Jenkins drove over.
 
In the clubhouse afterwards, Llangwm chairman Dan Chesmer presented the trophy to Saints’ skipper Nathan Foster, like all his team dressed in their Christmas fancy-dress!
 
Llangwm head coach James Lewis: "It's disappointing as we competed well in the first half. They had try where they broke up-field and then our heads dropped. I don't think the score reflected the game but St Davids are a good side now.
 
St Davids head coach Bruce Evans: "We could have been more clinical but it was a deserved win against a Llangwm side that never gave up. It was nice to have such a great atmosphere in the club house afterwards again."
 
Llangwm: Euan Macdonald: Rhys Llewellyn; Liam Miller; Owain Jones; Dan Richards; Charlie Kelly: Dylan Philpott; George James: Ieuan Power; Dan Woodward; Callum Jenkins: Morgan Crow; Luke Sandell: Morgan Rees; Dylan Rowles; Jason Mock. Replacements: Joe Newton; Phil Llewellyn, Seth Hughes, Lewis Tucker, Yale Grice.
 
St Davids: Fred Dorn: Luke Bamford; Ben Joyce; Harvey Lavin; Bob Froy: Kieran Owen; Aaron Foster: Ben Lloyd; Dan Murphy; Charlie Lavin: Iestyn Owen; James Goldsmith: Dafydd Williams; Nathan Foster (Capt); George Raymond. Replacements: Ethan Griffiths; Danny Voyce; Tom Goodson; Aled Davies; Ben Evans.







 

Premiership Division:

Otters win vital home fixture

Narberth 25 - Llangennech 14

Tries by Osian Hill and Ashley Sutton alongside a penalty try gave The Otters a vital fourth victory from eight league matches that moves them out of the bottom four in the table, despite playing with 14 men for much of the match, and reward for their hard work in training under head coach Ricky Guest.
 
Nico Setaro also added eight points with his boot and now The Otters face an even tougher challenge next Saturday as they travel to play Beddau, who are currently second in the table with only one defeat from their ten matches.
 
Narberth: Ashley Sutton: Dean James; Aled Davies; Harrison Griffiths; Osian Hill: Nico Setaro; Lewys Gibby: Josh Wrigglesworth; Tom Clarke; Ryan Rees: Sam Martin; Rhys Williams: Sam Davies; Tom Powell (Capt); Roy Osborn. Replacements: Tomos Richardson; Kyle Hamer; Tom Slater; Kieran Allen; Josh Hamer; Josh Thomas; Jonathan Rogers; Harry Fuller.


 

Championship (West) Division:

Glynneath too sharp for battling Crymych

Glynneath 45 - Crymych 21

Glynneath gained their fourth win from 10 starts as they established a 19-7 interval lead and built on that platform afterwards, despite the Preseli Men’s attempts as running rugby.
 
They managed good tries by flanker Osian Thomas, full back Jac Griffiths and replacement outside half Deiniol Mathias alongside two conversions by Ilan Phillips and Steffan Crompton but missed out on what would have been a deserved bonus point as other chances just fell short of fruition.
 
Crymych have a break next Saturday and then the Christmas holidays and they will hope to regroup over the festive season and perhaps regroup enough to start picking up more points.
 
Crymych: Jac Griffiths: Lawrence Headlam; Tomos Phillips; Ilan Phillips; Fraser James: Steffan Crossman; Daf Phillips (Capt): Harri Vaughan; Lee Griffiths; Osian Charles: Luke Freebury; Llyr Davies: Osian Thomas; Sion Wilson; Tom Taylor. Replacements: Aled Hughes; Tomos Tagg; Delme Alleyne; Aled Lewis, Deiniol Mathias. Travelling Reserves: Lloyd Hughes; Aled Harries.
 




 

Division One (West):

Slack Seasiders snatch a draw

Tenby United 24 – Waunarlwydd 24

Tenby United remain second in the table but will have been disappointed to have a draw with fourth-placed Waunarlwydd, who made by far the betters start and called for uncontested scrums when they were 19-0 ahead, which negated one of The Seasiders core strengths in the set-piece situations.
 
Powerful second row Luke Dedman claimed two of the home tries as reward for supplying power alongside skipper Alex Jenkins, with winger Gwion Jones and dynamic No 8 Dom Colman again featuring as No 10 Lloyd Thomas landed two conversions.
 
Tenby United travel to Laugharne next Saturday, who have only won once from seven starts so far, so head coach Jonathan Evans will be looking to see a far better result as the Seasiders look to maintain pressure on Burry Port in top spot in the section table.
 
Tenby United: Geraint Jones: Keanu Williams; Liam Price; Jackson Gravatt: Gwion Jones:  Lloyd Thomas; Dai Jones: Jack Davies; Jack Brown; Ethan Morgan: Luke Dedman; Alex Jenkins:(Capt): Cian Evans; Max Brindley; Dom Colman: Replacements: Allie Evans-Fecci; Tom Barrass; Max Boswell; Bowen Clark; Tom Edmonds.                                                                               
 
 

Division Two (West):

Borderers out of bottom two after a big win in Betws

Betws 23 - Whitland 46

Whitland ended a run of six straight league defeats and breathed life back into their league season with a resounding win at Betws.
 
Having not tasted victory since beating the same side on September 20, it was a game that Gareth Davies' men simply had to win in their fight to avoid the drop. And sure enough, the player-coach was instrumental as his side ran in six tries to signify a dominant display.
 
The visitors led 20-6 at the break as No.9 Davies created the opening try with a sniping break that led to flanker Gavin Smith going over. Shane Rossiter converted and added a penalty before the outside half gave the scoring pass for Ceiron Evans to dive over in the corner.
 
Back-rower Dan Bennett then cut a great angle to add another five-pointer - with the hosts only mustering penalties from Daf Gregory and Gareth Cromley before the interval.
 
Bennett added another score early in the second half after chasing and gathering a Davies box kick, with Rossiter adding the extras before grabbing his own try after winger Lucas Dance broke free and slipped the crucial inside pass.
 
Although Tomos Hughes was yellow carded for Whitland they weren't done there, with Rossiter adding two more penalties before prop Evans grabbed his second, again out wide after a long pass out from Davies.
 
To the credit of Betws, they did score three second-half tries of their own, through Gareth Cromley, Sam Bolton, and Sion Watkins, one converted by Gregory, but the day belonged to the Borderers as Evans, Bennett, and centre Dominic Pullen also shone throughout.
 
The win takes them above Nantgaredig and out of the bottom two ahead of a derby clash with Carmarthen Athletic next Saturday.
 
Whitland: Tom Day, Lucas Dance, Dominic Pullen, Osian Thomas, Joshua Clarke, Shan Rossiter, Gareth Davies, Jonny Phillips, Matt Driver, Ceiron Evans (Co-capt), Alan Proctor, Aled Thomas, Dan Bennett (Co-capt), Gavin Smith, Trystan Bowen. Replacements: Tomos Hughes, Charlie Watson, Rhys Nicholas.
 

Division Three (West):

All Blacks snatch late, late victory

Neyland 24 - Narberth Athletic 22

Neyland grabbed a hard-fought victory out of the fire against Narberth Athletic at The Athletic Ground as reward for not giving up, despite trailing 22-5 late into the second half – when their never-say-die spirit saw then run in three tries to snatch the spoils from a Narberth Athletic team, who had to settle for a single bonus point.
 
It was clearly going to a hard-fought contest between two very useful sides as The Athletic had a try and conversion from Shay Norcross and Luke Griffiths-Dawes crossed for The All Blacks as they trailed 5-7 at the interval.
 
The Athletic then raced 22-5 in front as Mike Bratcher and Brad Cram scored tries and there was a conversion and penalty by Iwan Thomas – and at that stage it seemed the visitors would claim the spoils.
But then Neyland fought back with good tries from wingers Josh Wats and Liam Res, one converted by Rio Phillips to reduce the deficit to only five points with four minutes to go.
 
Then The All Blacks were awarded a penalty and managed to take place through good ball retention deep into Narberth territory, from which skipper George Williams powered over the line to level matters – and teenager Rio Phillips calmly slotted the conversion to leave The Athletic very disappointed but the home side understandably jubilant!
 
Neyland: Oli Rothero: Josh Watts; Patrick Bellerby; George Williams (Capt); L Rees:  Rio Phillips; Owen Hamer:  Luke Griffiths-Dawes; Andrew Swales; Seb Mackintosh:  Adam Peel; George Evans:  Owain Evans; Iestyn Evans; Ben Williams. Replacements: Andrew Slark; M Kerrison; C Power; Shane Phillips.
 
Narberth Athletic (from): Ashton O’Riorden, Matt Harries; Brad Cramb; Rhys Kemble; Will Davies: Shay Norcross, Elliot Evans; Iestyn Doble, Declan Cole, Jamie Zambas, Jac Norcross, Henry Foster; Kyle Williams, Steve Thomas; Wil Nicholas, Steven Pilot, Gareth Clifford, Ben Llewellyn, Mike Bratcher; Iwan Thomas, Stephen J Brown.

 

Cardis crush Trim in one-sided second half

Cardigan 52 - Trimsaran 10

 

Cardigan continue to show an improvement in their form as they led 24-10 by half time and maintained the pressure thereafter to added a further 28 unanswered points as forwards and backs combined to produce an excellent all-round performance for their supporters at the King George Vth Playing Field.
 
Shaun Leonard dropped an early goal before Dean Harries, Iwan John and skipper Marcus Castle, added tries, one converted by Leonard and two by Llyr Jones.
 
Cory Phillips and James Stout were the Trim scorers and after the interval The Teifisiders grabbed a try quartet from Alun Jenkins (2), skipper Castle and Leonard, all converted by No 10 Llyr Jones.
 
Cardigan: Shaun Leonard: Llyr Jones; Iwan John; Emyr Harries: Alun Jenkins: Jac Davies; Ifan James: Will Price; Luke Palmer Davies; Andrew Jones: Dan Jones; Dean Harries:  Owen Fletcher; Dafydd Rotie; Marcus Castle (Capt). Replacements:  Ben Hughes; Connor Owen; Flynn Tjoonk; Joe Thomas; Ben Rogers.
 

Division Four (West) A:

Quins take the honours against gritty Llan

Llanybydder 21 - Pembroke Dock Harlequins 40

Pembroke Dock Harlequins gained their expected win at Llanybydder but the home club deserve every credit for the way that they stuck to their task after trailing by 21-7 at the interval but eventually finishing just short of what would have been a deserved bonus point as they missed out on a fourth try late on.
 
Llan’s try scorers were second row John Evans, No 8 Rhydian Jones Ben Allen, all three converted by Cory Roberts, whilst Quins’ skipper Ben Hathaway added all three conversions to his team’s try trio in the first period from centres Josh Brown and Jack Price, plus outside half Craig Barnett, who called the shots throughout
 
For the Quins in the second period, further tries came from replacement Ben Gibby alongside winger Tom Donovan and Hathaway himself, plus two conversions as the Quins’ skipper was the man of the match for his team.
 
Pembroke Dock Harlequins: Ben Hathaway (Capt): Owain Turner; Jack Price; Josh Brown; Tom Donovan: Craig Barnett; Sam James: Dan McLeod; Callum Jones; Alfie Ball: Lewis Scourfield; Liam Baker: Rhys Spencer; Danny Wilkes; Aaron James. Replacements: Jason Keight; Ben Gibby; Morgan Rogers; Adam Cawley, Gethin Bradnley.  Travelling Reserves: Will Nicot, Rhys Thomas.

 

Athletic hold on after losing a huge first half lead

Pembroke 39 - Tenby United Athletic 41

Both sets of supporters at Crickmarren experienced extremes of emotion as visitors Narberth Athletic totally controlled the first half and scored six tries to lead 38-10 before Pembroke fought back to 38-32,
 
An amazing home win seemed might happen but then Harry Rossiter slotted a much-needed penalty with four minutes to go for The Seasiders Seconds – but there was still time for another seven-pointer from The Scarlets to leave them regretting two occasions when try attempts were held up over the line and outstanding No 8 Dai Rogers was deemed to have knocked on at a vital time when it seemed a marginal call.
 
Rossiter also added four conversions of the six Tenby tries scored by Jordan Asparassa (2), Fletcher Broadhurst, skipper Jack Gooding, George Osborn and Ben Pugh whilst Pembroke’s tries saw flanker Rhodri Walters pouch three as reward for his support play.
 
Others came from Danny and Lloyd Davies, Rogers and William Edwards, with Zak Shaw converting two of them.
 
The only small compensation for The Scarlets is the fact that they pocketed two bonus points – and both teams deserved congratulations for being part of a mesmeric match which showed all that is good about local-derby rugby”
 
Pembroke: Rhys Johns: Tobi Pratt; Iolo Williams; Zak Shaw; Zach Evans: Lewis Davies; Josh Greenwood: Lloyd Davies; Dan Davies; Jamie Branford: William Edwards; George Jones: Rhodri Walters; Rhydian Eynon; Dai Rogers. Replacements: Theo Davies; Jonny Palmer; Deryn Williams; Andrew Evans; Cyle Weatherall.
 
Tenby United Athletic: Morgan Grieve: Matthew Lewis; Ben Pugh; Jack Gooding (Capt); Jordan Asparassa: Harry Rossiter; Fletcher Broadhurst: Rob Clark; Iori Richards; Andrew John: Rhys Grigg; Taz Richards: Cian Knights; Jake Henson; Liam Pugh. Replacements:  Nick Guymer; George Osborn; Cemlyn Bolton; Cal Earland; Dylan Johns; Darcy Langston.