Whitland 1st XV entertained Tredegar in a Lloyds TSB National League Division One fixture on Saturday, with the Borderers coming out on top by 59 points to 17.
The first half saw Tredegar hold the upper hand after some woeful handling errors by the Whitland side, but then in the second half the Borderers settled down to dominate the match.
Tredegar opened the scoring through scrum-half Rob Saunders after right wing Daniel Morris made a break down the touchline. Whitland's Mark Lloyd missed the tackle, before fullback Gavin Morris brought down the Tredegar player short of the line, only to watch Saunders pick up and score. Outside-half Gareth Karney added the conversion.
Whitland's own outside-half Aled Davies failed with a penalty in the 11th minute after some dangerous footwork by the Tredegar pack.
From the long drop out, left wing Andrew Richards gathered ball and ran back into Tredegar's 10-metre area, before hoisting a Gary Owen. He was taken out late by hooker David Knowles and from the resulting penalty Aled Davies opened his side's account.
He kicked his second penalty in the 20th minute after the Tredegar backs got caught offside, and after 26 minutes he banged over another to give Whitland a 9-7 lead.
After half-an-hour, Whitland made a break through fullback Gavin Morris, and after leaving Tredegar's tacklers in a heap, he grubber kicked the ball down the far touchline towards the corner flag, only for Tredegar's fullback Daniel Roberts to gather and clear his lines.
The kick, however, did not find touch and was gathered by Tredegar's second row Chris Edwards on the 22. This resulted in referee Simon Harris awarding Whitland another penalty for offside, and again Davies added the three points.
At this point, Tredegar's fullback, Daniel Roberts, remonstrated with the referee, which continued all the way back to the halfway line. Referee Harris called Tredegar's captain and number eight, Stuart Jarman, forward and informed him that he was going to yellow card his player for dissent.
Unfortunately, Roberts continued with further abuse, which left the referee no option but to red card the player.
Four minutes later, Whitland's scrum-half Gareth Davies was yellow-carded for tackling a player too early from a short tap penalty.
In the 40th minute, Tredegar took the lead when stand-in scrum-half Mike Buckingham failed to find his outside-half and Steve Evans pounced on the loose pass to feed number eight Jarman who crashed over for the try. Again Karney added the conversion to leave the half-time score 14-12 to Tredegar.
Whitland started the second half strongly, and after five minutes Fakatah Molitika scored their first try after some good work by the forwards. Davies missed the conversion.
Tredegar drew level in the ninth minute with a Karney penalty, before Whitland's extra man took its toll and the Borderers ran in six further tries.
The first of these came in the 15th minute after a long kick out of defence by outside-half Davies. Tredegar could not gather, knocked the ball forward and from the resulting scrum, replacement number eight Johnny Kiloi picked up and drove towards the line, with fellow back row forward John Bowen crashing over for the score. Davies adding the extra points with the conversion.
After 20 minutes, again from a long kick by Davies, Tredegar cleared to the 22-metre line, where from the resulting lineout, hooker Steve Gerrard, captain for the day, found Molitika with pin-point accuracy. The forwards then rumbled towards the line and back row forward Stuart Tirie got the touchdown, with Davies again adding the extras.
Five minutes later, centre Mike Buckingham made a half-break through the centre and sent winger Mark Lloyd over for the try; again Davies added the two points.
In the 28th minute, again Buckingham cut through the Tredegar defence to score under the posts, with Davies adding the conversion.
In the 32nd minute, Davies kicked long to find touch some eight metres out. Whitland second row and man-of-the-match Carwyn Davies stole the Tredegar throw-in, the forwards drove on, the ruck was brought down short, replacement scrum-half Andrew Jenkins dummied to go open, the Tredegar defence drifted out, but quick-thinking Jenkins fed centre Lee Glanville to score. Again Davies was successful with the conversion.
Three minutes later, Mike Buckingham failed with a drop goal attempt, but gathered the restart and made a half-break, before feeding Lee Glanville who broke through a tackle and kicked the ball towards the line. Following up to pressurise, the Tredegar defender could only watch as the ball squeezed under his failed attempt to gather and Jenkins touched down for Whitland's last try, again converted by Davies.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Whitland travel to play Blackwood away
Whitland fielded: Gavin Morris, Mark Lloyd (Jack Tremlett), Lee Glanville, Mike Buckingham, Andrew Richards, Aled Davies, Gareth Davies (Andrew Jenkins), Gareth Williams (Wayne Higgon), Steve Gerrard (capt.), Dai Jones (Romeo Collela), Ben Armstrong (Fakatah Molitika), Carwyn Davies, John Bowen (Phil Morgan), Stuart Tirie, Randall Williams (Johnny Kiloi).
WHITLAND WANDERERS
Due to South Gower pulling out of the league, the Wanderers did not have a fixture last Saturday, but tomorrow they host Llangennech, with a 2.30 kick-off.
Whitland Youth
Again Whitland Youth were left without a fixture last Saturday, but tomorrow they are home in a league fixture against Cardigan, which will be played at Parc Dr. Owen with a 2.30 kick-off.