Neath 17 Llandovery 37 (From South Wales Guardian)

Neath 17 Llandovery 37

8:00am Wednesday 12th September 2012 in Sport

Principality Premiership

LLANDOVERY made history on Saturday by recording their first win over Neath at the Gnoll, writes Steffan Hughes.

The Ammanford trio of lock Bryn Griffiths, flanker Shaun Miles and scrum half Rhodri Williams were outstanding to keep Llandovery top of the Premiership – one point ahead of champions Pontypridd.

Tries from prop Owen Evans, centre Jack Roberts, scrum half Rhodri Williams and full back Lee Rees proved too much for the All Blacks.

“We followed up our promising win against Cardiff by taking a big scalp in Neath,” said a delighted Lynson Lewis.

“We defended with gusto and took our chances. We suspected that this squad of players was capable of breaking the Gnoll hoodoo.

“They believed in themselves and our performance confirms the strides that the club has made since losing by 80 points at the Gnoll some five years ago.

Neath took a 6-0 lead through penalties from fly half Dai Langdon but once the Drovers found their rhythm they looked the sharper.

The boot of fly half J a m e s Garland and the driving bulk of prop Owen Evans put the D r o v e r s a h e a d before centre Jack R o b e r t s b o o t e d through for a second Llandovery try after good work from centre MatthewJacobs.

But Neath shrugged off the disappointment of losing concussed flanker Emyr Williams by clawing themselves back into contention as two more Langdon penalties narrowed the gap to 20-12.

The game swung away from Neath when outstanding Llandovery scrum half and Man of the Match Rhodri Williams scooped up a stray Neath pass to sprint in fromall of 90 metres.

The Drovers finished their scoring with a flourish and the try of the day as Roberts made a slashing break to send effervescent full back Rees scampering into the corner to bury any hopes of a home consolation point.

A try from former Carmarthen Quins wing Jason Howells four minutes fromnormal timewas of no comfort to the shocked Gnoll crowd.

Bridgend, Swansea, Newport and Llanelli are the visitors to Church Bank on the next four consecutive Saturdays