Aberaeron 17 Cardigan 16

A last gasp dropped goal by outside half Steffan Rees was enough to clinch the win in this fiercely contested encounter. Aberaeron were looking for a season’s double but found Cardigan in a determined mood and looking for revenge for the earlier defeat.

The hosts were not at their best on the day and Cardigan will feel unfortunate to fail at the death. The visitors had led from the early minutes initially through two Shaun Leonard penalties but were pegged back by an excellent break by Dafydd Llewelyn, the scrum half leaving four would be defender floundering before crossing the line. With Rhodri Jenkins converting, it gave Aberaeron advantage, but that was short lived as the failure to gather the restart led to a breakdown in defence and the visitors took full advantage to cross in the corner for a four point lead at the break.

Within minutes of the restart the lead was increased to nine points with a scrambled attack leading to a second corner try. Much of the game was fought up front with the home eight gaining better control in the latter stages, typified by a strong display from prop Ceri Davies for a fourth season’s man of the match award and this gave the platform to create opportunities to claw back the deficit.

Success finally came through captain Morgan Llewelyn, not to be outdone by his brother's effort, weaving his way to the whitewash and leaving Jenkins to add the extras.

With the clock ticking down a drop goal would suffice but after a first failure Rees remained calm and the second attempt sailed through the posts. There was just time for the restart but Aberaeron stood firm to gain an unlikely success which keeps promotion hopes alive with some tough games ahead. Next up is the Pembs Cup encounter at Aberystwyth.