THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2017 Like us on Facebook facebook.com/thellanelliherald Seconds narrowly beaten Bowl holders wipe out Wrexham


Llan and Llan 2nd XI Carmarthen 2nd XI


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AFTER a flurry of snow


cancelled games across South Wales last Saturday (Jan 14), Carmarthen Seconds set off early Sunday (Jan 15) for Llanishen under a welcoming grey drizzle. Captain Charlotte Harries had


gathered a strong squad of 14 players, allowing her to deploy a rolling sub system for each area of the pitch. Carmarthen started brightly and


dominated the early exchanges. The defence of Marianne Spratt, Ffion Dart, Kate Williams and Ffion Wyn Jones controlled any pressure laid on by Llanishen and regularly transferred possession to the eager running midfield. Wing backs Efa Mullins, Sarah


Evans and Megan Henry had their markers for pace, and, at will, could dribble past and create opportunities for the more forward players. Unfortunately, in the first half,


despite the immense pressure that Carmarthen were creating, they rarely tested the Llanishen keeper. At half time, coach Martyn


Passmore asked for more movement from the forwards to create clean chances at goals. He also asked for the centre midfielders, Siriol


Richards and Sioned Raymond, to push further forward to support the forwards. From the second half push


back, Carmarthen put a great deal of pressure on Llanishen, Harries got into the D but saw her shot well saved. Next was Jayde Collins’ turn, who forced a short corner after her shot was stopped by a defender’s foot.


Unfortunately, failure to convert


chances often causes heartache. Against the run of play, Llanishen turned over possession in their own half and caught Carmarthen high up the pitch. The pace of two Llanishen players


saw them 2v1 against goalkeeper Sophie Nix who, to her credit, saved well from the first shot but lost sight of the ball for the follow-up shot. Carmarthen had to endure a


period of sustained pressure as their heads went down a little and Llanishen had a spring in their step. Late chances from Janine Owen and Beth Speke forced a nail-biting finish but to no avail as Llanishen maintained their one goal advantage through to the end. Carmarthen chose Kate Williams


as their player of the match due to her continuous hard work in defence.


Llandybie gain bonus point win Cefneithin


3 Llandybie 26


League 3 West C LLANDYBIE travelled the


short distance to local rivals Cefneithin, hoping for a bonus win to put them back at the top of the table. Llandybie were quick out of


the blocks, pressuring Cefn in the opening minutes. From a line- out 10 yards from the hosts, line hooker Rhys Cann found Merlyn McClelland. Good smuggling work by the


pack released scrum half Leighton Rees, who popped the ball up for second row Layton Davies to burst through the gap to score under the posts after five minutes. Aled Tommason added the conversion. Llandybie then missed a penalty. Llandybie’s pack were causing


Cefneithin problems and a good drive took Cefn backwards; captain Rhydian Jones picked up to put Leighton Rees through to score, with Chris Powell adding the extras. Soon after, prop Dai Lloyd on the burst was held up just short of the line. Cefneithin put the ball wide


and Llandybie had to work hard to keep them out. From a good clearance from Powell, winger Ben Featherstone put in a good chase and the home defence knocked on. From the scrum, Llandybie put


the ball through hands with full back Rhys Evans, just back from New Zealand, joining the move


Burry Port: Going through to the quarter-finals with a final score of 47


IT WAS a long journey down to


Burry Port for Wrexham RFC and they were hoping to ease the long journey home with a win over the home side in this the last 16 of the WRU Bowl competition. Conditions were cold but the pitch was ideal for the match, which was attended by the largest crowd the Memorial Park has seen for a while. Wrexham had brought their fair share of fans along to see what their team could do against the current Bowl holders. Burry Port are renowned for coming


out of the blocks quickly and within five minutes of the start, outside half Steff Powell received the ball from a ruck just outside the visitors 22 and showed good vision and skill as he produced a beautifully measured cross field kick to winger Luke Rudall, who gathered and scored in the corner. The Blacks kept the pressure on the


to scramble over from 15 yards. Tommason again converted to put Llandybie 21 nil ahead. Cefneithin fought back with


some good running rugby, putting pressure on the visitors defence. Cefn had three penalties in quick succession but normally-reliable kicker Richard Watts could only convert one of them to put Cefn on the board. The first 30 minutes of the


second half was nip and tuck with a lot of errors. There were a few high tackles from both sides, although nothing malicious, but young referee Kieran Cooper from Cwmavon was in full control and had a sound game. Centres Rob Smith and Johnny


Harris were very quick up onto the Cefn attack. Tommason was lost with a head injury and Llandybie brought on Lyndon Davies and Dan Brooks into the pack. Merlyn McClelland, who had


a fine match, won another line out with the pack going forward again and a strong carry from hooker Rhys Cann, making 15 yards with the back row of Nathaniel Butler and Davies arriving to ensure possession, prop Keenan Jones was on hand, using his strength to fend off three opponents and crash over in the corner to give Llandybie their fourth try bonus point. There was a good crowd


watching with a strong contingent from Llandybie. This 26–3 win puts Llandybie back to the top of the table.


Wrexham defence almost immediately from the restart and ran some great angles, only to be denied by some good tackling. Eventually, Blacks prop Matthew Gower ran at full pace as he received a quick ball from the base of a ruck to power his way over, almost bringing the goalposts down in the process. The conversion was added by scrum half Ben Williams. The third try of the match was a result


of a great kick downfield from a penalty. The subsequent line-out was won, gathered and following a couple of quick phases, Oliver Dunleavy went over to score. Ben Williams added the two points from a successful conversion. The final try of the half was a fine


Alan Evans alan.evans@herald.email


display of forwards playing like the backs as they made their way down-field. They showed some good passing and offloading skills, which were rounded off in the corner by Blacks hooker Iwan Roberts. The conversion went just wide but scrum half Ben Williams kicked a penalty just before half time after Wrexham were caught holding on to the ball on the floor. The second half started with Wrexham


surging downfield. Despite some good carries by the forwards, they were unable


to score as the Blacks defence held strong. Burry Port were awarded another penalty and opted to kick for touch in the visitors' half. Centre Tom Bowen showed some great footwork as he crossed the the line for another Burry Port try. Ben Williams slotted over another


penalty and for a while afterwards, both teams played much of the game in the middle of the pitch in a battle of defensive skills. It was Burry Port who broke the line


first, following some great passing and offloading for outside half Steff Powell to finish it off in the corner. The subsequent conversion went just wide of the posts. It really was a bad day at the office


for the visitors and a long drive home as Burry Port heaped more points on them, as inside centre Duane Evans took off on a great angled run to score with ease. Ben Williams managed to convert his kick to make the final score Burry Port 47 - Wrexham 0. Burry Port management were


extremely pleased with how the squad went about the game and were particularly pleased to see 'The Blacks' holding their discipline and exhibiting a good variety of skills to carry them into the quarter-finals of the Bowl.


Pembroke hold on for welcome win Laugharne


Pembroke


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League 3 West A AFTER two straight defeats,


Pembroke finally returned to winning ways with a hard-fought win over Laugharne in an entertaining game on Saturday (Jan 14). The home side had first half tries


from Tom Rees and Carwyn Jones, but they went unconverted. Pembroke had tries from Lewys


Gibby, Sam Smith and Barry John, with Luke Hartland adding one conversion. That gave them a 17-10 half time


lead and they increased their lead in the second half as they began to dominate the game. Matthew Lewis and Hartland both went over for tries which earned them


69


a bonus point, with Hartland then adding the extras for one and also a penalty. Laugharne hit back and had


tries from Tom James and Gareth Spiers, with Gareth Thomas adding a conversion and a penalty to bring the home side to within a score of their opponents. Pembroke held on to secure a


welcome win and they will now be looking to push on back towards the top end of the table. Laugharne earned two bonus


points for their four tries and for being within seven points of Pembroke but they remain in sixth place as a result. On Saturday (Jan 21), Pembroke


are at home to St Davids while Laugharne are away to Pembroke Dock Quins.


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