Tycroes 22 Llanybydder 10 (From South Wales Guardian)

Tycroes 22 Llanybydder 10

9:00am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in Sport

Swalec Bowl

THIS Swalec Bowl encounter between the top two teams in Division Four West was always going to be a tough encounter.

The previous league game was a tight affair in Llanybydder, with Tycroes taking the spoils.

The first half was dominated by the Tycroes pack. Their scrummage took Llan apart, with the away side conceding penalty after penalty, and Grant Williams kicking five out of six to give the hosts a 15- 3 lead. Rhydian Davies kicked all Llanybydder’s points.

Whatever was said to the visitors at half-time needs to be bottled and sold on because they came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders. They pressurised the Tycroes line.

Only committed, solid defending kept them out.

On the 50-minute mark an attacking scrum on the homesters line led to a sublime offload by the Llanybydder right, giving Dion Thomas the score. Davies added the conversion to close the gap to five points.

That score revitalised the home side’s challenge and sustained pressure led to Llan yielding several penalties, giving the referee no option but to sinbin the visiting hooker.

Down to seven men in the pack, and with the Tycroes dominance in the scrum, it was inevitable that a fivemetre scrum on the Llan line led to a penalty try. Willliams converted on 60 minutes.

Playing out the last 20 minutes, the away team threw everything including the kitchen sink at the Tycroes line but again the defensive line held out, with John Ogden leading the tackle count for the forwards to earn him a deserved man of the match title.

Tycroes now go through to the last 16 of the Swalec bowl.

Tycroes’ next league game sees them home to Burry Port on February 9 (KO 1.30pm).