Aberaeron 3 Burry Port 25

Forget the final scoreline, this was a hard fought encounter which should have seen Aberaeron’s territorial supremacy see them replace Burry Port at the top of the table. How they failed to capitalise on the day will remain a mystery, as Port were subjected to a lesson in forward play for the vast majority of the game. The front row of Downes, Davies and Evans gave their opponents a torrid time continually driving in the scrums, giving the back row of ap Dylan Elgan Jones and Tudur Jenkins the perfect attacking platform. It was only frantic defence which prevented the hosts gaining a healthy advantage and the only reward for the supremacy was an early penalty from Euryl Rees. Time and again the home eight stormed towards the tryline only to fail at the death, and as invariably happens a rare break by the visitors resulted in a penalty in front of the posts which brought the scores level at the break. The second half was played in the same vein, but the visitors defence stood firm in the face of some aggressive foraging, and the only shame was that the normally expansive play from the home backs was missing on the day. It did not help that they were forced to change personnel through injury which resulted in a home debut for Carl Williams, and the disruption undoubtedly had a bearing on the result. Having weathered the storm for much of the second half, Port finally gathered some composure and their first foray into home territory bore fruit with another penalty in front of the posts. Throwing caution to the wind Aber were forced to chase the game but the elusive score was not to be on the day, and the flattering scoreline was achieved through three tries in the last ten minutes. for the visitors. It was a dejected squad that trooped off the field at the final whistle, knowing that any real chance of automatic promotion may well have disappeared with this defeat. On another day the result may well have been different and the focus will now turn to a difficult encounter at Furnace in two weeks time.

15Aled Davies, 14 Carl Williams 13Wyre Jones, 12 Owain Williams, 11 Rhodri Thomas , 10 Euryl Rees, 9 Dylan Williams (c)( Trystan Jones), 8 Tudur Jenkins, 7 Elgan Jones, 6 Ywain ap Dylan(Neil Snowdon), 5 Nathan Best, 4 Leighton Daniels, 3 Dan Downes, (Alex Danton) 2 Carwyn Davies, 1 Deiniol Evans (Mike Jones)