HONOURS in the eagerly-awaited derby at the King George were claimed in convincing fashion by Aberaeron, who produced a more polished performance than their County rivals to win 27-5.

The Seagulls put on one of their best shows of the season in the difficult conditions underfoot, and despite the high error count this was still a good old fashioned, no holds barred derby, sealed in the end by the all round display of the visiting pack, which gave Cardigan a torrid time, especially in the scrum.

It was the Seagulls who opened the scoring when outside half Rhodri Jenkins slotted over a penalty after only three minutes, and they added to this when No 8 Tudur Jenkins claimed a push-over try, which was converted by namesake Rhodri to open a 10-0 lead.

With Aberaeron in the ascendency, it came as no surprise when they increased their lead after centre Ollie Sawyer broke through some woeful tackling to touch down near the posts, with this try coming from an aimless Cardigan kick out upfield. Jenkins upgraded the try to make it 17-0.

The Cardis, who were missing their two best players in centre and skipper Emyr Harries and number eight Llyr Griffiths, came back strongly through debutant fly half Tom Dunne and experienced old head Colin Davies in the back row, but some poor passing cost them on several occasions, just as they looked to be gaining momentum.

The hosts eventually crossed for a try after the break when Dunne rounded off a fine move that went through several patient phases of play, and he squeezed through what had been a resilient defence.

Back came Cardigan, with blind side Tom Taylor prominent, but their problems in the scrum began to hurt with the front row trio of Owain Wozencraft, Alex Danton and Sion Evans, and powerful second row Gethin Hughes dominant.

Jenkins increased the Seagulls’ lead with another penalty before his team mates killed off their rivals with a third try, which came when the Cardigan scrum was dismantled and burly scrum half Gareth James broke down the blind side and fed out to a two man overlap for fly half Jenkins to cross over the try line.

The same player slotted the conversion to cap a fine individual effort and to seal a very well-deserved win.

Aberaeron are now up third place in the Division Three West A table, just ahead of Haverfordwest, and they will be reasonably happy with the progress they have made this term.

Cardigan in contrast, suffered their third defeat on the trot, but to be fair they were without two senior players who would have made a considerable difference in such a young side.