AWESOME BONYMAEN SETTING THE PACE
They may have the Pembrokeshire duo of Narberth and Whitland breathing down their necks at the top of the table, but there seems little likelihood of the Swansea side giving up top spot if they maintain their form of the first month of the season. Their 57-15 home win over UWIC had 22 points from Gareth James in the shape of two tries and six conversions. There were also tries from Gavin Evans, Scott Davies, Jason Wride, Lyndon Johnson, Ewan Hopkins, Alan Powell and Neil Wilcox.
That made it 32 tries in five outings so far this season for Gareth McCarthy’s team, who have two successive away games to come in the next fortnight against Ystrad Rhondda and Merthyr. The students were highly competitive in the first half, when Ryan Harris scored a try which Matthew McLean converted and Nathan Hopkins dropped a goal. That made it 26-10 at the interval, but the second half ended in a five tries to one rout with only Martin Thomas crossing for the visitors.
Narberth were in equally impressive in their 48-5 home win over Ystrad Rhondda as they made it four wins in five starts with eight tries. Wing Mark Davies led the charge with a second half hat-trick in a game that saw the injury hit visitors reduced to passive scrums and 13 men at the end. Centres Neil Davies and Phil Thomas were also on the score sheet, as were prop Alan Phillips and back row men Andrew Dennis and Lewis Wood. Full back Rob Irving converted three of the tries and Fatika Faletau one.
Whitland ran up a 26 point lead in the first-half of their home clash with Merthyr before easing off to win 33-7 in the end. Four of the five home tries came in that first-half blitz with Aled harris, Lee Glanville, Randell Williams and Eifion Roberts all crossing. Aled Davies bagged the final try and also kicked four conversions for a match tally of 13 points. A disappointing Merthyr were given a penalty try which Neil Burnett converted.
The only game among the eight fixtures that didn’t end in a home win was at Cwmllynfell, where Newbridge ended their run of two successive defeats with a battling display to share the points in a 9-9 draw. All the points came from the boots of the two sides’ respective kickers, home full back Peter Thomas and Newbridge outside half Greg Callow, with Cwmllynfell leading 6-0 at the break.
Beddau got back to winning ways with a 24-8 victory over Blackwood that contained tries from Rhys Jenkins, Steve Cole and Ashley Copic, while Llangennech had 11 points from the boot of young outside half Ellis Phillips to go with three tries in their 26-13 win over Builth Wells.
Caerphilly may have been two divisions above Waunarlwydd last season, but the Swansea side’s 27-16 home win showed just how quickly they have closed the gap. Player coach Jason Hyatt got the fourth and final try as Waunarlwydd picked themselves up from a two point deficit at the interval to come out on top.
