President: Mr Brian Jenkins

Laugharne did not sit back on their laurels with their back row of flankers Pearce and skipper Chris McIlwrick together with powerful No.8 John Bowen putting their bodies on the line and thus giving centres Nick and Deiane Thomas the platform to punch holes in the much vaunted Ammanford midfield. But the whole Laugharne team played their part with the likes of wings Steve Hartland and Chambers defending resolutely.

In the 16th minute Laugharne went on to increase their lead with a well worked try. From a scrum on the Ammanford 22m line, scrum half Adam Davies fed flyhalf Harries who worked with centres Thomas and Thomas as decoy runners to put full back Simon Davies into space, who despite a despairing would be tackle, had the strength and balance to stay on his feet and cross near to the posts. Again, wing Chambers made no mistake with the conversion to give Laugharne a healthy 14pts-0pts lead.

Ammanford are a good side and despite being behind, looked extremely dangerous with ball in hand with their backs looking ominous. In the 30th minute they opened their account with a well judged penalty kick by fly half M.Lloyd on the Laugharne 10m line for Laugharne being caught offside at the ruck. Almost from the restart they were rewarded with their first try. From a scrum on half way, the Ammanford pack wheeled the scrum away from the touchline giving No.8 C.Jones the pick up and straight 50m run to the Laugharne line as he hugged the touchline to outpace the covering defence for an unconverted try. 14pts - 8pts in Laugharne`s favour remained the score until half time.

Ammanford kicked off to restart the 2nd half but soon found themselves back in their own half with a towering clearance kick from flyhalf Harries. From the ensuing lineout, young Laugharne lock Chris Thomas pinched the ball and drove into the heart of the Ammanford pack. With very options available the ball reached Harries who dropped a lazy goal to increase Laugharne`s slender lead. Laugharne should have increased their lead further when a penalty attempt by Chambers was deemed to be `not over` despite the Laugharne touch judge putting his flag up to signal `over`!

Ammanford continued to battle valiantly and in the 64th min they were further rewarded with flanker R.Danter collecting the ball in open space. He started on a zig-zag run, wrong footing would be Laugharne tacklers and with a fine turn of pace was over near to the Laugharne posts. Fortunately for Laugharne, flyhalf Lloyd fluffed his conversion attempt with the score now at 17pts - 13pts in Laugharne`s favour. Sensing victory, Ammanford then upped the pressure, by using their potent backs from deep, but still Laugharne kept them at bay with some desperate tackling. Ammanford were finally rewarded for their efforts, after stretching the Laugharne defence both ways, it was wing J.McWilliams who took the final pass to cross in the corner for an unconverted try, but at the same time putting Ammanford in the lead for the first time.

At this junture, Ammanford probably thought that they had done enough to win the match, but once again the Laugharne pack led by props Robert Jones and Richard Davies, together with hooker Mark Jones had other ideas as they worked their way into the Ammanford half. In the 36th min with lock Sam Palmer prominent and driving forward on the 10m line, Ammanford were caught offside at the ruck. Wing Chambers was called up to attempt the kick at goal, and despite the swirling wind he converted with a magnificent effort to put Laugharne back in the lead. With an extra 5 mins of injury time to play, Ammanford tried desperately to retrieve something from the match, but each time the Laugharne defence held firm, not even giving Ammanford an opportunity of a penalty attempt and effectively they closed the game down to full time and a memorable win.         

Laugharne`s next league match is an away fixture at Cwmgors on Saturday Dec 1st, players coach leaving at 12-15pm

Alun Jenkins Team Manager  Laugharne R.F.C.