Laugharne 17 Lampeter Town 34

Admiral National League One West

LOOKING to bounce back from their dissapointing performance against Burry Port, Lampeter took on their familiar opponents Laugharne during the tail end of Storm Amy.

Having pipped their opposite numbers to the title last season the visiting Maroons looked to right wrongs, as Laugharne were one of the few sides to defeat them in their 150th celebration season.

Playing into a strong wind Lampeter soaked up early pressure from the powerful home pack from the opening whistle.

From his own half Centre Player Coach Llyr Jones gained huge territorial advantage with a massive kick deep into the home twenty two.

Conditions made handling and lineouts a lottery yet Lampeter put two hard carries with Captain Ryan Kelachandra crashing over early doors for a welcome opening score.

Any kick in the remnants of Storm Amy was tricky yet improving Fly Half Jones added the extra two from the tee.

Fired up by the early setback Laugharne came hard at the Lampeter pack, keeping ball close to core as spreading the ball seemed against their gameplan into the hellish wind.

Tactically Dylan Thomas's men were spot on as their rewards for carrying bullishly resulted in a popular home try albeit unconverted into the breeze.

Gaining the rub of the green with penalities awardeded by match official Nathan Davies especially at scrum time, Laugharne turned the screw on their backpedalling counterparts yet it was the boot of Fly Half Jones along with young Fullback Rhun Davies pinning the home side back to their tryline.

Deep in their own half Laugharne spilled ball which Lampeter pounced on running hard through the likes of returning Number 8 Brynmor Jones accompanied by his Captain Kel in the carry department.

Some may say against the run of play Maroon Centre Tomos Rhys crashed over rewarding the intelligence of flanker Cadfan Jones who had miraculously turned ball over and beat three defenders to enable Rhys to finish the move.

Adding the extras Fly Half Jones slotted the conversion with aplomb.

In this to and froing first half Laugharne looked to have the final say yet it was Lampeter who took a vital step ahead with neat interplay from the other Flanker Ifan John to send Right Winger Ieuan Rees hurtling over the tryline much to the home side's disbelief as they certainly would have felt aggrieved that nobody from the Lampeter front row had been sanctioned.

At 5-19, with the wind, along with a growing confidence at scrum time the home support had every reason to be optimistic.

This optimism was justified as the home pack again set up another score just five minutess into the second half adding the two points extra this time to make it a seven point margin.

Time and time again Lampeter thwarted promising attacks by bravely jackalling winning penalties to relieve pressure.

From a decent foothold in the Laugharne half, Fly Half Jones broke the defensive line setting up Number 8 Brynmor Jones to plough over for his first try of the season illustrating Lampeter's ruthless ability to turn territory into points.

Soon afterwards Laugharne again found themselves behind the posts as Fullback Davies found space down the blindside linking with returning Winger Ryan Doughty who showed a clean pair of heels to his opposite man racing into the corner to ground his first score of the campaign.

Doughty had made breaks and defended imperiously all game thus being just reward for his Lampeter player of the match accolade taking the match to 12-29.

Guilty of yet another sloppy restart Lampeter put themselves under all kinds of pressure as the home side looked to close the gap in the final quarter of the match.

As the scrummaging improved second half the discipline certainly did not as Captain Kel received his yellow marching orders for a build up of infringements by his side. Spurred on by a passionate home crowd Laugharne carried hard into the Lampeter pack yet again being rewarded with a five pointer bringing the scores closer.

Changing the guard, Dewi Jones entered the fray on permit from Tregaron along with prop Rhodri Jones on permit from Aberystwyth to steady the ship as tired legs started to show, yet it was the introduction of Old Father Time, Ceri Thomas who really brought the curtain down on the home side as Lampeter yet again made ground through great footwork as they looked for spaces not faces resulting in prop Steff Greenwell popping up for his first unconverted score of the season.

As the man in the middle declared no time Laugharne must have been bewildered by a scoreline which did not show the efforts they had exerted all afternoon.

Head Coach Hugh Gustaffason waxed lyrical in praise over his young side stating: "We have tried hard to put the dissapointing decisions of the last game behind us and be positive in engaging with match officials in a way which benefits us.

“Today we had to adapt to referee decisions quickly at scrumtime and at the breakdown which delighted us"

Next up Lampeter play Waunarlwydd at North Road with the wheels well and truly back on the Lampeter RFC wagon.

Tries- R Kelachandra,T R Jones, I Rees, B Jones, R Doughty, S Greenwell.

Cons O Jones x2

(Report: Lampeter Town RFC)

Results:

Felinfoel 25 St Clears 12; Kidwelly 21 Swansea Uplands 39; Laugharne 17 Lampeter Town 34; Waunarlwydd 41 Burry Port 44; Yr Hendy 40 Tenby United 30

Fixtures:

Saturday, 11 October: Burry Port v Felinfoel; Lampeter Town v Waunarlwydd; Laugharne v Kidwelly; St Clears v Yr Hendy; Tenby United v Swansea Uplands