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                     LLANDYBIE    7      LLANDEILO   3

Saturday brought the much awaited clash between Llandybie and Llandeilo. With a big crowd watching, this turned out to be a game where both sides were determined not to lose.  Llandybie did most of the attacking in the early exchanges and their pack was on top for most of the game.

Although they had a lot of possession they could not turn it into points. The Llandeilo defence was resolute and good carries by Rhys Evans, Merlyn McClalland and Rhydian Jones came closest to breaching that defence.  Llandeilo gained a penalty which was missed and Simon Hemingway made some strong carries for the visitors. Llandeilo had another penalty for Llandybie backs offside and fly half Osian McAvoy kicked the points. Matthew Davies at centre got through a lot of work for Llandeilo . In one of their few forays forward Carl Britt put in a grubber kick ahead for winger James Turrell but Connor Thomas was quick enough to get back to clear.  Captain Rhydian Jones broke clear and kicked ahead but the Llandeilo centre was quick enough to get back and fall on the ball until help arrived.  Centre Rhys Evans looked most likely to create something for the hosts and one attack was just held up short of the line. Nathaniel Butler also tried hard  in attack and defence for the hosts but the Llandeilo defence held firm. The hosts lost winger Johnny Harris with a head injury replaced by Josh Cranfield.  Half time Llandeilo led by three points.

The second half was much the same with lots of scrums and reset scrums with the hosts having the upper hand. Luke Yelland and Richard Davies tried to bring their backs into play and full back Daf Nicholas joined the line looking for Cranfield but the cover got across .   The line outs were well contested with Alex Comey and McClelland for the hosts and George Plowman for Llandeilo. After twenty minutes it was still the hosts knocking on the door and Llandeilo not letting them in. Llandybie brought on Lyndon Davies to add to Llandybie’s forward momentum and within minutes the hosts had a penalty, Nathaniel Butler took a quick tap, running across the defence to offload to Rhys Evans who had McClelland by his side to use his strength to score under the posts. Aled Tommason kicked the conversion for the hosts to lead  7 – 3.

This seemed to bring Llandeilo to life and they put in a number of concerted attacks in the last ten minutes but Llandybie’s defence was sound with the hosts front row of Dan Brooks, Dai Lloyd and Matthew Meredith and back row Shon Davies working hard to keep Llandeilo out. Llandybie again drove forward and Llandeilo passed the ball to McAvoy whose clearance was charged down by Richard Davies on to the defender and Davies dropped on the loose ball. It was felt a perfectely good score but the referee gave a knock on. Llandeilo tried to the last but Llandybie’s defence was too good.  Next week Llandybie are away to Aberaeron in the Bowl.