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LLANDYBIE  14   BURRY PORT  19

Llandybie welcomed  Burry Port sitting one place above them in the league and a top outfit. The first lineout went to the hosts,Dan Brooks finding Merlyn McClellend. Lee Davies found Rhys Evans with a good run but the Port defence was sound. With Burry Port in play a dropped pass gave Llandybie the scrum.  Number 8 Lyndon Davies picked up and fed scrum half Tom Griffith, who threw a dummy and burst clear . Winger Rhydian Jones found full back Alex Wigley in support and he scampered over for an early try. From the restart Davies gathered and went on a strong burst but  Burry stole the ball and kicked ahead, a good ploy with the wind behind. From the lineout Dylan Evans gathered and three drives took them over for a try by fly half Stefan Powell converted by Adam Rudall.  With Mathew Meredith at loose head and Keenan Jones at tight and Alex Comey in at second row the Llandybie scrum was solid and caused Burry problems on their put in. The play was to and fro with good carries from Nathaniel Butler, McClelland  and Davies again and Port with carries from Evans and Ioan Rees. Burry Port had two penalties for a high tackle and offside but missed both. Llandybie on the other hand were finding it difficult to clear their lines against the strong wind. Rhys Evans and Chris Powell put in a lot of  solid tackles in midfield  as did Butler and Shon Davies. Burry broke down the left and only the combined efforts of Rhydian Jones and Alex Wigley managed to push winger Owen Thomas into touch. Burry broke through once more but Oliver Dunleavy dropped the ball when over the line, a let off for Llandybie. Half time arrived with the visitors leading 7 – 5 and the hosts a little fortunate.

Another good charge early in the second period from Lyndon Davies yielded a penalty for a high tackle and fly half Lee Davies struck the points from fully 45 yards to give the hosts the lead. A gary owen from Davies put the pressure on the visitors and Llandybie enjoyed a good passage of play for ten minutes, but Burry’s defence held out. Leighton Rees replaced Tom Griffith and good movement from Burry Port brought another try by Rhys Gravelle converted by Rudall.  A penalty for LLandybie was converted by Lee Davies leaving them three points adrift. Richard Davies replaced Powell and Dai Lloyd came on for Meredith to try to shake things up for the hosts. Llandybie kept driving forward and had a penalty for holding on which Davies converted to tie the scores. James Tommason replaced McClelland  A couple of snipping runs from Rees kept the Port defence busy and the hosts missed two opportunities to go blind from scrums with only the winger at home but they hadn’t seen  the opening. Llandybie were on top for long periods although the wind behind had dropped. On the attack again a dropped pass in midfield and a hack ahead was fielded by Rhys Evans who got the ball to Rees, but his kick was charged down and another pass was dropped and Burry Port gathered to set up the play for Thomas Rees to get the deciding score which was the only time Port had been in the host’s half. This was the first home game Llandybie had lost for over two years and there were a lot of disappointed faces in the dressing room afterwards. Outstanding for Llandybie was number 8 Lyndon Davies and Lee Davies kicked his penalties well but the team can be praised for their efforts for the eighty minutes. The scrums were rock solid but the lineouts need a lot of work in training.