In glorious Bank Holiday sunshine Ammanford travelled to the Millennium Stadium and for the second time in three seasons and came away as worthy winners of the Swalec Plate.

Hundreds of loyal supporters took the M4 to Cardiff as Ammanford took on Division Three Southwest outfit Glynneath in the tournament’s showpiece finale.

Glynneath made the perfect start, taking took play deep into the Ammanford 22 where the Amman Valley men were penalized at the first scrum of the game and Glynneath outside-half Jack O’Reilly took the opportunity to give his side a three-point lead.

Early nerves from Ammanford were soon settled when centre Tom Rees used his pace and strength to put wing Mike Evans in for the first try of the game. Owain Williams added the conversion to make it 7-3.

Within minutes of the restart Ammanford flanker Sean Miles thought he’d scored after some clever play by full back and man-of-the-match Mathew Fisher but the linesman called play back for a forward pass.

Glynneath were trying to break Ammanford down by keeping the ball with their forwards but great defence from the blue and blacks kept Glynneath at bay. However Glynneath were awarded a penalty for their hard work and O’Reilly reduced the lead to one.

The Glynneath eight were well led by captain and flanker Newell and their aggression paid off when a relieving kick from Fisher was charged down and Glynneath scored under the posts with O’Reilly adding the extras to see Ammanford trailing 13-7.

Ammanford replied immediately and a lovely break from Fisher saw Mathew Brailey cut inside to score. Williams added the conversion to put Ammanford 14-13 ahead.

Fisher then found himself on the scoresheet when, after great work from flanker Sean Miles, the ball was passed along the back line before second row Richard Greig gave the final pass for Fisher to score in the corner.

Greig then found himself having an early orange when he was sent to the bin for ten minutes. Glynneath tried all they could to take advantage of their extra man but great defence from Ammanford ensured they took a 19-13 advantage into the interval.

Glynneath began the second half as they had the first and Ammanford found themselves under pressure almost from the kick-off. But Ammanford were not going to concede any further points and their defence held firm.

With the returning Greig taking Ammanford back to their full compliment, they took the game to Glynneath. The Neath valley side were now finding it difficult to keep Ammanford out and three further penalties by Owain Williams took Ammanford to a 28-13 lead.

The final score of the game went to hard working scrum half Iwan Mainwaring who had been the pivot between forwards and backs all afternoon. Chris Jones then took off on a touchline run that had the Ammanford supporters on their feet but unfortunately found the Millennium pitch just a little too long.

Congratulations to all players, officials and supporters for making it yet another day to remember for Ammanford RFC.

Ammanford can now concentrate on making it a season to remember and go on to make it a league and cup double.

Ammanford are away to second placed Tondu in the league on Saturday. Kick off 2.30pm