Division One West

Loughor 11 Ammanford 16

Ammanford backed up their huge effort last week against league leaders Gynneath with their first away win of the season.

Playing into the wind against a big Loughor pack Ammanford started very positively.

An early Loughor line-out set the tone - with the home team looking for a big catch and drive but instead they were driven back 15 metres.

Ammanford took the lead with a Rhydian Morris penalty.

The home half backs used the wind well and kicked Loughor down the field which resulted in a 40m penalty to level the scores.

Ammanford came back well and pressed for long periods but some lenient refereeing allowed Loughor to kill a lot of ball without redress.

Ammanford’s only reward being another Morris penalty.

Late in the half a missed tackle in midfield led to Loughor’s only break of the half which they finished well and scored in the corner making the score at the break 8-6 to the home team.

Ammanford used the wind well in the second half and put the home side under pressure.

A midfield break and an excellent angle by Morris saw him gallop under the posts to put Ammanford into a 13-8 lead. The game then became a physical affair, but the young Ammanford pack stuck together well.

Further breaks by Ammanford saw Chris Morris break clear but was unable to pass to Marco Dallavalle for a simple try as Dallaville was held back – an infringement missed by the official.

The next clean break led to ruck on the Loughor line, the ensuing ball was quickly passed by scrum half Ioan Mainwaring to the unmarked Morris who was poised to score his second only to be cleaned out from behind.

Somehow, the referee was the only person who did not think it was a penalty try or even worthy of a yellow card.

Morris pushed Ammanford further ahead with his third penalty.

With the game going into its last 10 minutes Ammanford nerves and lack of experience in closing games out started to show.

They lost centre and skipper Emyr Price with a knee injury, followed by a Loughor penalty.

With nerves rattling, Ammanford somehow kept their nerve to hold out for the huge win their performance deserved.