Builth Wells 12 pts. Whitland 12
Whitland travelled to face Builth Wells on Saturday, hoping to claim all three points, but the Groe Ground has never been a happy hunting ground over the years, and it proved the case last weekend, when the Borderers only came away with a point after a 12-all draw. Neither side was allowed to play fluent rugby, not only because of the heavy conditions underfoot, and frequent rain showers, which made the ball slippery, but the man in the middle, Phillip Harrhy, also made good use of the whistle; all contributing to what was a poor game of rugby. There were no tries in the match, which turned into a contest between the two kickers, who in the end could not be separated, with four successful penalties apiece. Builth opened the scoring with their first after three minutes by fullback John Thurston. Whitland outside-half Aled Davies levelled the scores after seven minutes, but a second Thurston penalty in the 23rd minute restored Builth's three- point advantage. Whitland did show some rare glimpses of their back play, and after 32 minutes fullback Will Davies made a neat break, but with only Thurston to beat, he failed to hear the cries from his winger Christiaan Roets. Instead, he tried to chip the Builth man, but this was covered by the defence and the move came to nothing. Aled Davies tied the scores five minutes later with his second penalty success, but this was shortlived as just on half-time Thurston again gave Builth the lead after Alun (Tank) Davies came in from the side of a ruck, for which he was shown the yellow card. Three minutes into the second half, Aled Davies again levelled it up with his third penalty of the afternoon, and nine minutes later the fly-half gave the Borderers the lead for the first time with his fourth effort. With quarter-of-an-hour gone, however, he failed with another attempt, and at this point Whitland seemed to need just one bit of spark for the floodgates to open, but try as they might, the final move or pass just seemed to fail. Midway through the half, Builth's replacement centre Gary Mason was yellow-carded for killing the ball, and soon after, their winger Tom Davies received a straight red from the referee for elbowing Whitland's Dion Thomas. Some three minutes later, Whitland were reduced to 14 men themselves, when replacement prop Richard Smith also received a yellow card for again slowing the ball down. The game petered out, with Whitland looking as if they would hang on and claim all three points, but with minutes left, Builth were awarded a penalty on the halfway line which they kicked to the corner. At the resulting lineout, their number eight, Tom Hughes, took the ball in the middle, but was allegedly pulled down, with the referee awarding a penalty, which saw fullback Thurston step up and slot home to give the Bulls their first point of the season. It also left Whitland frustrated and disappointed at not taking all three. Nevertheless, there were some good performances for the Borderers, notably from Will Davies, Dion Thomas, Andrew Jenkins, Aled Harris and the back row of Gareth Downs, Ryan Michael and the hard- working John Bowen. Tomorrow (Saturday), Whitland entertain Merthyr at Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn. Team fielded: Will Davies, Dion Thomas, Colin Jones, Lee Glanville, Christiaan Roets, Aled Davies, Andrew Jenkins, Alun Davies (Gareth Williams), Aled Harris, Alan Phillips (Richard Smith), Graham Hartt (Raff Williams), Aled Evans, Gareth Downs, Ryan Michael, John Bowen.
Whitland Wanderers 31 pts. Llandovery 3
Llandovery were the visitors for a Poly Pipe Civils League fixture, and after being outplayed and outclassed, were on the wrong end of a result which saw a convincing victory for the home side by 31 points to three. Five minutes into the opening half, Whitland scored their first try through outside-half Shane Morgan, with winger Ross Michael converting. Midway through they doubled their lead, with a repeat performance, Morgan again touching down for the try and Michael adding the extras. Llandovery got themselves onto the scoreboard when their outside-half, Arwel Davies, kicked a penalty for their only points of the game. Whitland increased their lead when second row Tom Dinan charged down a clearance kick by Davies, gathered and touched down in the corner for an unconverted try, to leave the half-time score 19 points to three to the Wanderers. Whitland hammered home their superiority in the second half, firstly with a try from second row Carwyn Davies, with the try-scoring pass coming from flanker Mark Jones. Ross Michael failed to convert, but with 10 minutes remaining, the Wanderers ended the day's scoring, when after a good take at a lineout by number eight Matthew Owens, followed by support and an excellent pass from Mark Jones, saw outside-half Shane Morgan complete a fine hat-trick of tries. Ross Michael added the conversion. There were good performances by Huw Devonald, Tom Dinan, Mark Jones, half-backs Adam Davies and Shane Morgan and the brothers James - Wayne and Anthony, in the centre, whose defence was outstanding. Team fielded: Alan Proctor (Martin Nicholas), Huw Devonald, Andrew Morillo, Tom Dinan (Ewan Davies), Carwyn Davies (Matthew McMillan), Mark Jones, Dafydd Lewis (Josh Riches), Matthew Owens, Adam Davies, Shane Morgan, Andrew Thomas (Alan Evans), Wayne James, Anthony James (Owain Davies), Ross Michael and Ali Bowen. This weekend, the Wanderers travel to play Waunarlwydd.
Whitland Youth
Whitland Youth should have travelled to play Crymych, but the match was called off due to adverse pitch conditions. Tomorrow (Saturday), they are away to Pembroke Dock.