Swalec Plate – Round Three

Amman United 14 Loughor 9

Amman United came through a tough test to reach the last 16 of the Bowl, defeating Division One Loughor at Cwmamman Park.

The match proved to be a real forward battle, where two fine defences were on top for the majority of proceedings.

The Amman forwards were in the ascendency for large parts - blindside flanker Sean Mangan gave an outstanding man of the match performance, while Matthew Wrigley and Chris Rees, who dominated at the line-outs, proved an excellent second row unit.

Centre Tristan Manning gave a typical no-nonsense account, tackling like a demon in a superb Amman defensive display, while scrum-half Ryan Williams proved a real thorn in the side of the Loughor back row, keeping the pressure on throughout and denying them any time. Wing Jonny Bevan was excellent also.

Amman began well, and were denied a penalty-try inside just five minutes as their strong scrummaging during a series of early pushes had the Loughor eight creaking.

The referee opted against rewarding Amman for their efforts when, had there been more minutes on the clock, he may well have thought otherwise.

United lost influential loose head Tom Davies on 20 minutes, but had a very able deputy in replacement Rob James.

Loughor were second best throughout, but were always in the tie, and a series of penalties kept them in the hunt.

But Amman deserved the victory overall, and scored the game’s solitary try as a strong forward drive near the posts went through numerous phases before the ball was swept wide to Gavin Lewis, who fed centre Adrian Thomas to dummy in and touch down to score.

Amman return to league action with a visit to Seven Sisters on Saturday.