Whitland 8 pts. Pontypool 10

Bouyed by only their second victory of the season against Bonymaen the previous week, Whitland were able to go into their match with the once mighty 'Pooler' with renewed confidence on Saturday.

But could they build on that victory and make it two in a row in this National League Championship clash? That was the question being asked around Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn.

From the kick-off, it looked as if they might well do that, as, despite facing the elements on what was a miserable day, the battling Borderers produced some dogged first half defence to keep their visitors from East Wales at bay.

In fact, after weathering the early storm, it was the Borderers themselves who went closest to getting the scoreboard ticking over when outside-half Scott Newton was just off target with a drop goal.

But the Whitland faithful did not have to wait too much longer to have something to cheer about, as the home side did eventually get their noses in front when hooker Marc Jones crashed over for a try after a driving lineout.

The try went unconverted and Pontypool were able to cut the deficit to just two points when Sam Mills landed a penalty goal for the visitors.

It remained like that until the break, but after half-time, Whitland's Dan Newton again stretched his side's advantage to five points as he replied with a penalty of his own.

That came midway through the half and the question now was could the Borderers hang on to their hard-earned lead.

Unfortunately, and unluckily, the answer was no, as the outcome was finally decided by a refereeing decision, when a penalty try was awarded against the Borderers following a number of collapsed scrums near their line.

With the conversion from in front of the posts, Mills had no problem in sealing Whitland's fate with the extra two points.