Aberystwyth 26 Llangennech 17

Admiral National League One West

ABERYSTWYTH produced an excellent team performance to beat the league leaders (before kick-off) and current champions Llangennech.

The visitors showed their intention from the start and fought hard to win and retain possession, moving the ball down their line when they wanted to open up their game and keeping it tight at other times. But they found Aber equally determined to keep them out with strong tackling.

Early on when the hosts won possession, they seemed reluctant to move the ball wide, choosing instead to keep it close and rely instead on bursts by their forwards. Both sides contributed equally to a high penalty count gaining and losing ground that they had fought hard to win.

The two packs were evenly matched in early set pieces despite the visitors having a heavier eight than Aber. But when it mattered, the visitors could find the reserves to gain the upper hand and after a few minutes of pressure they opened the scoring when their No 8 who picked up at the base of a 5-metre scrum to force his way over the line. The try went unconverted.

Aber fought back with a very well worked try. Scrum half Dylan Benjamin picked up from the base of a winning ruck 40 metres out and passed to outside half Steffan Rees. He transferred the ball quickly to Jac Jones who broke through two tacklers to gain good ground before offloading to full-back Mathew Jacobs to score near the posts. Steffan Rees’ conversion gave Aber a 7-5 lead.

Llangennech regained the lead when their forwards broke from a scrum on the half-way line, fed their backs and with good, close interpassing, worked the ball out to their left wing to cross for their second try.

Aber spent the last few minutes of the first half pressing hard on the visitors’ line. Time and again their forwards tried to wrestle their way over when it might have been better to have moved the ball out to their hungry backs.

The second half was only a few minutes old when Aber scored their second try and regained the lead. It showed again that this side is at its best when they move the ball quickly and off-loaders stay on their feet to continue the moves. From broken play, centre Carwyn Evans broke through and fed Paul Stubbs. He found Bryn Shepherd on his shoulder to receive the ball and give a scoring pass to Dylan Benjamin. Steffan Rees converted.

The high penalty count on both sides continued as did the uncompromising battling for possession. Llangennech won enough ball but were their own worst enemies as Aber’s pressure forced them into handling errors.

Once again Aber profited from a more open approach for their third try as the ball was inter-passed down the right side for Rees to score and convert.

The hosts continued to attack and again spent many minutes camped on the Llangennech line. Again the ball was kept close and again the visitors had no difficulty in repelling these drives.

Aber’s all round team performance deserved a bonus point win and after a nervous passage of play they scored their fourth try with another bout of hard carrying, good offloading and excellent support running resulting in Dorian Jones forcing his way over the line. The conversion was missed.

The visitors were determined to have the last word and it was their turn to camp in their opponents’ 22 metre area. Aber’s defence held out despite wave after wave of surges by Llangennech’s forwards until, finally, the visitors crossed for a try that was converted to close the score at 26-17.

This excellent win moves Aber up from fifth to third place and they will need to maintain this level of performance on Saturday when they travel to play Yr Hendy.