Warriors win in Manchester (From South Wales Guardian)

Warriors win in Manchester

6:00am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in Sport

CARMARTHEN Warriors and development side the Flamingos travelled to Manchester on the weekend for their fourth visit to the MR7s tournament.

With both sides entered in the Men’s Open Cup, TheWarriors’ faced Storm 7 in a bad-tempered affair which saw them 5-0 down at the interval.

But with three minutes to go the Carmarthenshire side upped a gear when Storm 7 had a player yellow- carded and Andrew Jones scored.

Gareth James added a conversion before adding another try and conversion to claima 14–5 victory.

Next came Akuma Demons and Ellis Lloyd opened the account after two minutes. Chris Banfield ran in from his own 22 for the Warriors second before Ammanford’s Wayne Price set up Jason Howells to score just on the break.

The Warriors dominated the second half with tries from Andrew Jones, Tomi Jones and Andrew Jenkins for a comfortable 34–21 final score.

The Flamingos beat Manchester University Postgraduatesbut couldn’t hold out against the might of Lancashire, last year’s tournament runners up.

Theresults ensured that the Warriors faced the Flamingos in the quarters and it was the development side who dominated the first half thanks to two tries TomRees.

The Warriors reduced the arrears with a try from Howells, but Flamingos defence preventedMichael Anaida, Gareth Jamesand Price from crossing the line to claim a 12-7 lead at the break.

But, the s e c o n d half saw t h e Warriors score twice for a 19-12 triumph.

Defeat saw the Flamingos in the Plate semi-final against the Screaming Midgets, and scores f r o m G a r e t h Wal t e r s, Tom Rees a n d C a l l u m Evans got them a 38-0 win.

They claimed a 19-7 interval advantage over Manchester University in the final, but ran out of steam as the Mancunian students won 24-19.

In the Cup semi-final, theWarriors stormed over Ellesmere Old Boys with tries from Tomi Jones, Andrew Jones and Lloyd for a 17-0 half-time lead, but Ellesmere OB hit back with two converted second- half tries before a try from Andrew Jones, converted by Banfield, eased Warriors nerves.

Alate Price score sealed the deal at 29-14.

TheWarriors began the final against Lancashire with some excellent crossfield passing but they failed to find the breakthrough and it was Lancashire who went ahead through a breakaway try.

Banfield savedWarriors blushes when he ran almost unopposed from his own 22 to end the first half 5-7.

The second half proved an evenly-matched affair with an unconverted try for both teams before an unpleasant scrap saw the Lancashire No.11 yellowcarded.

With the Warriors back in the box-seat Tom Rees ran from his 22 to score and Tomi Jones almost added another, but a try out of nowhere saw Lancashire level 19–19 with two-and-a-half minutes to go.

As the clock ticked down, Andrew Jones claimed the cup for the Warriors with a superb try with ninety seconds to spare.