Tycroes 17 Landydder 13

A rearranged league match gave Tycroes the chance to close the gap on the Division Three West leaders and they duly obliged.

The opening quarter of the match saw Tycroes pound the home defence at every opportunity, but their only score on the board was a solitary penalty by outside-half Carwyn Richards.

The Tycroes backs broke through the home line at will but a resolute defence kept them at bay, and against the run of play Rob Dyer opened Llans account with an unconverted try.

A scrum on the half way saw No8 Ian Cooper pick up and feed scrum-half Mathew James who broke down the blind, out stripping the defence, the ball was fed on to Simon Cooper who drew the full back before finding wing Chris Lemon who raced down the touchline to score in the corner. Richards failed with the conversion and missed two further penalties.

Tycroes lost Ian Cooper at the break after receiving a cowardly blow to the face from behind which went without punishment.

A penalty by Richards took Tycroes out to 11 points before centre Gary Evans struck back for Llan to close the gap. Llyr Davies missed with the conversion.

A tip tackle by Tycroes flanker John Ogden had him seeing yellow for ten minutes which allowed the home side to dominate proceedings and a penalty by Davies saw them regain the lead with 20 minutes remaining.

A forced change at full back saw Tycroes bring Mickey Hopkins onto the wing with Lemon reverting to full back. Hopkins’ speed terrorised the home team and only a few last ditched tackles prevented the scores but the penalties were inevitable.

Richards stepped forward and like the previous week slotted the points to claim the win.

A huge debt of gratitude goes out to the team of coaches led by head coach Aled Griffiths and his side kicks, Dean Bromham for the backs, Sheridan Morgan on defence, Grant Jones on skills and Anthony Stephens on lineout. This dedicated band has put Tycroes where they are today.