BLACKWOOD 19 pts.

WHITLAND 18

Whitland produced a much improved performance on Saturday, but still could not return with the spoils from their Championship clash at Blackwood.

But it was a close run thing, with the Borderers holding a four-point advantage before a late try saw victory snatched from their grasp.

It was heart-break for the struggling Whitland side, who remain rooted to the bottom of the table with only one win all season.

But they had high hopes of improving on that as they looked the better side in the early stages.

Against the run of play, though, it was Blackwood who opened the scoring and went on to establish a 14-point lead thanks to tries from hooker Josh Clarke and flanker John Jones, with fly-half Paul Emmanueli converting both.

It rocked the Borderers, but far from letting their heads drop, they rallied and hit back either side of the half-time break with tries from flanker Dylan Richards and skipper Andrew Jenkins, one of which was conserted by outside-half Scott Newton, who also banged over two penalties.

It took Whitland into an 18-14 lead, but could they hold on to it. Unfortunately, the answer was no, with their hopes of what would have been a well-deserved victory being dashed when scrum-half Aaron Quick stole through for that late try to pinch it back for the home side.