Llandovery travelled to Riverside Park and ended worthy 29-8 winners over struggling Rumney. But the opening quarter was all Rumney as they camped in the Drovers half yet could not improve on a Christian Wills try and Chris day penalty. Once Llandovery’s scrum half Robert Walters and flanker Ceri Davies had crossed there was only going to be one winner. Gareth Jones converted both opening tries and added a penalty to push the Drovers further ahead. Tries from Herman Bosman and Neil Clapham sealed a comfortable victory for Llandovery who are three points behind Pooler in second spot.
Narberth’s strange season continued at lowly Beddau where the home side registered a 30-23 success to inflict a seventh defeat on the Otters in their last eight games. Narberth led 20-10 at the interval but apart from an Andrew James penalty, they failed to trouble the scorers in the second period. Tries from Dean Barnes (2), Gareth Jones and Steve Cole gave Beddau a welcome victory in their efforts to move away from the lower reaches of division One. Jones capped a fine personal display by adding two conversions, a penalty and a drop goal to his try for a 15 point contribution. The Alan Phillips and Nick Jones bagged first half touchdowns for Narberth.
There was a real derby atmosphere at the Welfare Ground where Newbridge hung on to defeat Gwent rivals Cross Keys 23-18. The lead constantly changed hands but as usual it was the kicking of Jason Williams that settled the match with two late penalties. A Simon Greedy try had brought Newbridge to within a point of Keys who had registered through Ken Morris and Ben Watkins with Gethin Worgan slotting over a conversion and two penalties.
Bedwas rattled up their eighth victory of the season with an impressive 17-0 victory over Tredegar at the Bridge Field.
Flankers Chris Brown and Darren Davies went over for the winners and full back Andrew James converted both and landed a penalty. Tredegar made few scoring opportunities but when they did cross the home line they spilled the ball and the chance was lost.
It was the battle of the kickers at Bonymaen whhere the home side slipped to a 12-3 defeat to Tondu. It was a dour game with defences on top and the Waterwheelers won with four penalty kicks by fly half Mark Jones. Bony’s only response was a Stuart Davies penalty just before the interval.
Aberavon remain very much in contention near the top of the division after a 23-7 success at Whitland. The Wizards stormed to a 16-0 interval lead and the Borderers found the deficit too much even though Steve Griffiths bagged a good try on the hour. Wing Lee Abdul flew in for a brace of tries for the winners and fly half Jamie Davies also crossed to add to a conversion and two penalties.
There was a high scoring match at Glan-yr-Afan Park where Blackwood saw off a keen challenge from visitors Glamorgan Wanderers before winning 36-28. At one time Blackwood looked home and dry after going into a 30-6 lead but the Wanderers fought back in exciting fashion before the ever-reliable Martin Jones sealed the win with two late penalty goals. The 16 points from Jones was crucial as Wanderers broke through to score tries by Ian Higgins, Damien Lawlor and Huw Jones but Blackwood ended up winners for only the second time in six outings.
Carmarthen Quins are in fourth place in the division after their 22-12 win over visitors Llanharan. It was a welcome victory for Quins who had gone down in their last two league matches but the visitors made them work hard for the win. Quins touchdowns came from Darren Simpson, Josh Freeman, and Euros Evans while Llanharan replied through hooker Richard Emms and replacement flanker Nicky Allen.
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