Schools Rugby

Ysgol Bro Dinefwr 29 Ysgol Dyffryn Aman 19

In a fast if often frantic game at Llandovery’s Church Bank, Ffairfach-based Ysgol Bro Dinefwr outscored neighbours Ysgol Dyffryn Aman by four tries to three, writes Huw S Thomas Watched by their respective new school-club officers and WRU appointees Tomas Marks and Gareth Potter, Bro Dinefwr gained sweet revenge for an earlier 26-7 defeat at Ammanford, Marks – one of 43 officers with a key objective of increasing the amount of rugby played at schools and clubs - was delighted at the result.

The former Llandovery and Llanelli fly-half has been at his post for a month and is already seeing the WRU led initiative pay dividends “The boys are working hard as the turnaround in fortune shows and there is an infectious enthusiasm and desire to improve performance,” he said.

“As full time officers we are committed to coaching individual, unit and team skills for the good of the individual, the school and also the local clubs where they can go on to play the game.”

The salary of the officers is half paid by the WRU and half by the local authority and is a part of the WRU’s determination to increase playing numbers at school and youth levels.

It was quite a day for Aman’s busy flanker Steff Price-Griffiths who took advantage of his side’s edge at scrum and line-out to grab a hat-trick of tries but who also copped a yellow card for killing the ball at a ruck.

Dinefwr had stuck to the tails of the Aman with tries from full-back Josh Herman and fly-half Steffan Roberts, but down 19-12 they came through strongly in the last quarter.

Urged on by the individual excellence of scrum-half Aron Hemmings, wing Jack Cleverly and ball-carrying No 8 George David, Dinefwr drew level with a converted try from prop Tom Fulcher.

They took the lead for the first time with 7 minutes to go when influential skipper Roberts put over a 30-metre penalty before Aman threw caution to the wind.

They attacked from everywhere with international prop Jordan Davies and full-back Josh Walters making inroads only to see replacement flanker Jordan Witts lose the ball in the act of scoring.

With time all but up Amman launched a desperate attack but a stray pass was intercepted by lock Evan Hall who showed good speed to race in under the posts for his captain to convert.

Bro Dinefwr Tries: J Herman, S Griffiths, T Fulcher, E Hall Cons: S Griffiths (3) Pen: S Griffiths Amman Valley CS Tries: S Price-Griffiths (3) Cons: K Beynon (2)