Principality Premiership

Llandovery 28 Bedwas 24

Llandovery continued their recent improvement with an exciting win over visiting Bedwas, writes Huw S Thomas.

Games between the two Cinderella clubs of the Premiership are invariably well-contested and this was no exception with the Drovers coming back from a 24-11 deficit to claim a victory by four points.

Winning coach Lyndon Lewis saw the win as a confidence booster before the Swalec Cup quarter-final against cup holders Pontypridd on Saturday.

“Beating Cardiff at the Arms Park and following it up with this hard-earned win over opponents that are always so competitive will give us some impetus, but we know how huge the task will be to win at Sardis Road.”

Lewis will hope that the two Scarlets in the Llandovery pack – flanker Phil Day and prop Wyn Jones – will again be available for the cup game.

Day was a shining beacon in the loose while Jones scrummaged powerfully and carried well, but there were also good performances from half-backs Lee Rees and James Garland, centre Rhodri Jones and wing AaronWarren.

Fly-half Garland opened the scoring with a straight penalty before a sweeping move saw wing Richard Williams slicing through for a try.

Bedwas soaked up a lot of pressure but wing Lewis Hudd was only thwarted by a double cover tackle from Jones and full back Mike Evans.

Llandovery prop Greg Cunniffe was yellow carded for reckless footwork at the ruck and Hudd crossed wide out for a try, converted by fly-half Richard Powell.

Powell put over an angled penalty, missed one from over 50 metres but kicked another for a 13-8 interval lead.

A run by Garland forced a penalty which the fly-half put over but it was cancelled out by a third from Powell before Bedwas upped the tempo to stretch the lead to 21-11 when wing Matthew John crossed out wide.

A yellow card for lock Bryn Griffiths was punished with another Powell penalty and the sparse Friday night crowd could envisage a home win.

Replacement wing Sam Soul scrambled over for Garland to convert well to give some hope before the turning point came with the yellow carding of the outstanding Bedwas No 8 Deri Mattravers.

Bedwas soon conceded a penalty try and the lead with eight minutes left before Garland added a 76th minute penalty to make it 28-24 and end a real thriller.