Whitland 13 pts. Cardiff Met 30

Following the Christmas and New Year break - some of it due to the weather - Whitland returned to action in the Swalec Championship on Saturday when they entertaned the students from Cardiff Met.

Unfortunately, though, after competing well at the set-pieces, poor tackling and lack of penetration behind led to the Borderers' downfall.

It was Whitland who took the lead, however, when fullback Jonathan Thomas kicked an early penalty, only for left winger Pierre Tucker to reply with Cardiff's first try after 11 minutes, with outside-half Matt O'Brien converting.

The Borderers hit back straight from the restart and, after good work by the pack, Jonathan Thomas, coming into the line, threw a long pass out to centre Lee Glanville, who broke through and made good ground before putting hooker Tomas Wilson in for their first try, which went unconverted.

Matt O'Brien restored the Cardiff lead with a penalty after 21 minutes, having hit the post with an earlier attempt.

Cardiff further increased their lead six minutes later when second row Josh Walker crossed for a try from a driving lineout, but fly-half O'Brien failed with the conversion attempt.

Both sides were reduced to 14 men after two yellow cards, but the score remained 15 points to eight to the visitors as the whistle sounded for half-time.

After the break, Cardiff quickly stretched their advantage again with another Matt O'Brien penalty after two minutes, but Whitland were far from finished and hit back with their second try of the afternoon.

Gaining quick ball, a great inside pass saw winger Tomi Jones break through before the pack recycled the ball and second row Kieran 'Sharkie' White crashed over for the touchdown.

The try went unconverted, but the lead had now been cut to just five points, at 18-13, and at this stage the Borderers were still well in the hunt.

As it turned out, though, it was to be their last score of the match as Cardiff put the game out of sight with two quick tries midway through the half. They came from wingers Jamie George and Pierre Tucker, his second, with Matt O'Brien converting one to make the full-time score 30 points to 13 and leave Whitland still at the bottom of the championship.

Match referee - Mr. Wayne Davies, Llanelli

Team fielded - Jonathan Thomas, Chris Smart, Lee Glanville (capt), Mike Giorgiou, Tomi Jones, Carwyn Jones (Nico Setaro), Aled Rees (Dafydd Evans), Rhodri West, Tomos Wilson (Marc Jones), Gethin Jones (Nathan Price), Llewellyn Jones (Dai Ebsworth), Kieran White, Zac Francis-Miller, Dylan Richards, Callum Tree.

Main match sponsors - K.P. Thomas & Sons, Templeton, and Ron Mounsey, McDonalds - Carmarthen,Haverfordwest and Swansea.

Whitland Youth 37 pts. Tenby Youth 17

Whitland Youth completed the double over Tenby Youth when they won by the large margin of 38 points to 17, running in six tries and converting four of them.

In the first half, Whitland crossed for four tries through hooker Tom Waters, second row Charlie Preece, number eight George Griffin and scrum- half Will Carol, who also converted two.

In reply, Tenby scored two unconverted tries by winger Chris Morgan and number eight Bronzac Burley, to leave the half-time score 24 points to 10 to the home side.

In the second half, Whitland again outscored the visitors with two tries to one.

Whitland's scorers were centre Dan Lewis and outside-half Jamie Harries, with Will Carol converting both, while Tenby's only points came from a converted try by scrum-half Aron James, to leave the full-time score 38-17 to the young Borderers.