ABERYSTWYTH paid for their indiscipline as visitors Llangennech claimed a 13-20 victory at Plascrug, to leave their hosts still seeking their first win of the season.

The hosts had kicked off with the advantage of a fairly stiff breeze blowing diagonally from the clubhouse end, and they had the better of the early exchanges.

They missed an opportunity to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty in the Llangennech 22, but following a bit of back-chat the decision was reversed.

This unfortunately set the tone for the game as far as Aber were concerned.

Llangennech, buoyed by this, had a bit of a purple patch and scored three quick tries, none of which were converted.

The first was scored by winger Rhys Davies, the second by hooker Mathew Bowen after they moved infield from a line-out and then cut back to the blind side for Bowen to scamper over unopposed.Then their third try, which came straight from the kick-off, was a beauty. The ball was fielded on their 22 and passed through five or six pairs of hands, before then releasing scrum-half Gareth George to go over for a cracking try.

The hosts regained some composure and scored a neat try of their own when Llyr Thomas put in a delicate grubber through the defence for Mathew Hughes to win the race for the touch-down.

Llangennech hit back to score their bonus point try when No 8 Jordon Saunders burst through to make the half-time score 5-20. This first half must surely have been the nadir as far as individual and team discipline were concerned for Aber. They started the second half with a bit more drive and purpose, and managed to go through more phases in attack.

Aber scored next when winger James Coulton fielded a wayward Llangennech clearance and passed inside to Mathew Hughes, who sliced through the defence, passed to the supporting Coulton, who barged his way over out in the corner.

Llangennech seemed to be visibly tiring and Aber kept them under increasing pressure by going through phase after phase. After one good prolonged attack, the visitors conceded a penalty, which Llyr Thomas knocked over to secure a losing bonus point for Aberystwyth.

There were two young lads making their home debuts for Aber, and both came through with flying colours. Wil Caron Lewis more than held his own in the front row and made some strong carries, while Charles Thomas came on at scrum-half and impressed with his speed to the breakdown and neat distribution.

Of great concern for the Aber supporters was the lack of team discipline, with Llangennech turning the ball over on a number of occasions when Aber were building promising attacks. One cause was the lack of a speedy reaction by support runners when the ball carrier went to ground, enabling Llangennech to get their hands on the ball and turn it over.

Another problem was ball carriers trying to make miracle passes out of contact, causing knock-ons and turn-overs. They must surely work on ball retention.

Of far greater concern for some, however, was the lack of personal discipline shown by two or three players with their incessant back-chat to the match referee. On six or seven occasions, the referee reversed his decision to award a penalty to Aber in eminently kickable positions because of the comments directed at him.

Aber lost by seven points, and this indiscipline ultimately let their supporters, coaching staff and team-mates down. Improvement is needed when Aber travel to face Yr Hendy this weekend.