Division One West

Carmarthen Athletic 22 Amman United 26

Following their disappointing 18-6 defeat to Ammanford last week, Amman United bounced back to winning ways with a hard-fought victory at relegated Athletic.

With just one match left, and other results going against them, Amman’s survival hopes hang by a slim thread and victory will have done the visitors confidence the power of good.

For a change, Amman had a pretty strong squad from which to select as Joel Foster, Ryan Williams and Liam Smith returned to the fold.

The visitors opened the scoring with a lovely try as the ever-dependable Sean Mangan was heavily involved before the final pass went to hooker Doug Jenkins who crossed the line.

Amman, with the front row of Jenkins, Tom Davies and Liam Mangan outstanding, bossed the scrums and proved far too strong for Athletic.

The visitors extended their lead with a lightning break from man of the match Smith wide out, with the centre running in from halfway to score a fine solo try.

Dean Williams was also back in top form and now needs just two more tries to notch his 200th career try.

His grubber kick after a trademark break had “try” written all over it, before he was pulled back, and the ref awarded a penalty try. Rhys Williams’ conversions gave United a commanding 19-0 half-time lead.

Inspired by their sharp scrum-half, Carmarthen upped their game after the break and put Amman on the back foot for large periods.

The pressure brought due reward, and the visitors soon found themselves 22-19 behind following a real purple patch of home scoring.

But Amman’s impressive scrum got themselves out of trouble late on.

Following a series of powerful Amman scrummages, four penalties and a final warning, the Athletic eight finally buckled, and the visitors were awarded the penalty try.

Amman have just one fixture remaining - at home to Crymych on Wednesday, April 29 (KO 7pm), as coaches Tony Williams and Gareth Davies take their final bow and say farewell to the club.

Amman lost 18-6 not 81-6 to Ammanford last week as incorrectly reported in the Guardian. Apologies to all for the error.