Laugharne
secured a well deserved win with a four try bonus point to take them top
of Division 3 West. Laugharne won the toss and decided to play up the
slight slope. Lampeter kicked off and with good initial pressure on the
retriever won a penalty in front of the Laugharne posts on the 22m
line.Despite the blustery conditions flyhalf C.Gregson made no mistake
with the kick to give Lampeter an early lead.
Laugharne were
in no mood to lie down and let Lampeter dominate and were soon
pressurising their line and should have scored but for a dropped pass.
However in the 20th minute flyhalf Ross Harries settled Laugharne nerves
with another show and go from a midfield scrum to break through the weak
Lampeter defence to cross half way out. Unfortunately he was unable to
convert his own try. This try showed the Laugharne intent as they were far
more enterprising with ball in hand. In the 35th minute Harries was back
on the score sheet. From a scrum in midfield he chipped a weighted kick
into space behind the Lampeter backs and had the presence of mind to hack
on and gather the ball to score at the Lampeter posts. This time he made
no mistake with the conversion attempt to give Laugharne a healthy
12pts-3pts lead.
Laugharne were
still not finished as their forwards began to dominate the set pieces, the
scrum in particular. Scrum half Adam Davies marshalled his forwards with
firmness and a neat kick form him deep into the Lampeter 22 had their wing
taking the ball into touch giving Laugharne the throw in. From a good
throw by hooker Martin Jones, flanker Chris McIlwrick took the ball in the
lineout on the 5m line and powered his way over. With a good effort from
wide out, flyhalf Harries kicked the conversion to give Laugharne a
19pts-3pts lead at half time.
From the
restart, Lampeter found direction and purpose as they worked their way
into the Laugharne 22. With Laugharne down to seven men in the pack due to
having one `man in the bin`, Lampeter targetted this area, they kept
possession and more importantly kept their patience and eventually flanker
M.Jones was over for the all important score near to the Laugharne posts.
Flyhalf Gregson added the conversion to bring them back in touching
distance with Laugharne. Once again Laugharne upped the tempo of the game
with young lock Chris Thomas, together with prop Robert Jones and No.8
Kevin Pearce driving into the heart of the Lampeter defence and setting
the platform for the potent Laugharne backs with centre Nick Thomas
prominent and showing good strength to break tackles and stay on his feet.
15minutes into the 2nd half fullback Simon Davies chipped the ball through
to turn the Lampeter backs resulting in their fullback running the ball
into touch in desperation near to their own try line. From another good
throw by hooker Jones the ball was taken in the lineout by flanker McIlwrick who
was then propelled over the line with the extra muscle supplied by lock
Lyndon Jones to secure the bonus pt.This time Harries was off target with
the difficicult conversion attempt.They were still not finished as they
began to play a more expansive game by stretching the Lampeter defence as
they took them deep into their own 22. From the quick won ruck scrum half
Davies fed Harries who passed on to centre Geraint Beynon who used his
blistering pace to outpace the despairing and sparse Lampeter defence
to score near to the posts giving Harries a straightforward conversion and
to close the Laugharne account. Lampeter did manage a consolation try
towards the end of the match with a try by lock D.Davies for Gregson to
convert and give them some respectability. For Laugharne it was mission
accomplished by winning home and away against a side who have done the
same to them for the last two seasons.
Laugharne will
now have to wait two weeks( due to two Wales internationals) before taking
on form side Aberystwyth at home on Saturday march 22nd, k.o. 2-30pm
Alun Jenkins
Team Manager Laugharne R.F.C.
