Konica Minolta Cup Round Up

In the West

West beat East when Division One West side Cwmllynfell dumped Division One East leaders UWIC out of the Konica Minolta Cup with a comprehensive 43-15 win. Both right wing Lee Davies and centre Kevin James grabbed a brace of tries each in their seven try romp with the hosts holding a 17-6 lead at half-time.

Full-back Peter Thomas landed four conversions for the win which coach Mike Lewis said put the West Walians on the map. He said: “It’s a great result for the boys, to be honest we weren’t at full strength, so it was lucky for UWIC really. If you take our No 8 and captain Jim Morgan out of the equation, most of the boys are in their early 20s. We are a small village club and everyone wants to play for us, but this is a great win and the boys thoroughly deserve it.”

For the students, flanker Guy Thompson grabbed a consolation try, while Scott Sneddon landed three penalties and a conversion for the Cyncoed based side.

In the Division One West battle, Bonymaen came out on top by three tries to one as Dunvant went down 25-7. Outside-half Aled Davies put the boot into Division Three West club Llangefni with eight conversions and a try in a 21-point haul as Division West One ran riot in their 66-10 win.

Full-back Lee Glanville and right wing Dion Thomas both poached a brace of tries while scrum-half Andrew Jenkins, hooker Mark Jones, prop Alan Phillips, second-row Graham Hartt and Ryan Mitchell grabbed tries. The hosts led 28-5 at half-time and dominated the try-scoring by 10-2.

Narbeth flexed their Division One West muscles in a comfortable 35-6 win over Division Two West’s Felinfoel as wings Mike Georgiou and Matthew Davies grabbed tries along with scrum-half Chris McDonald, full-back Neil Jones and centre Steve Martin. Flyhalf Steve Williams landed five conversions.

Mumbles seem to be benefiting from having Wales’s Grand Slam coach Mike Ruddock helping guide their forwards as the Division Three South West side enjoyed a comfortable 20-10 win over Division One East club Blackwood.

Division Two West club Tonmawr enjoyed a 33-12 win over Tondu with the home side outscoring their guests by five tries to one.

In the East
Pontypool Coach Steve Hill was full of praise for Division Three South East club Treorchy after they came within minutes of knocking his Division One East side out of the Konica Minolta Cup. With his side losing 10-5 up at Treorchy, Hill brought on replacement No.8 Lee Meredith with eight minutes to go and the burly forward rewarded him with two late push-over tries.

It was heartbreaking for plucky Treorchy who had led for virtually the entire game after outside centre Trystan Lazarus grabbed a first half try converted by Celyn Ashton who added a penalty for a 10-0 lead at half-time. Meredith grabbed his first try from the base of the scrum with time running out, before touching down again in injury time and left-wing Richard Dennington broke Treorchy hearts with a try at the death. Pontypool flyhalf Darren Pearce added the conversions for the 19-10 final score.

“All credit to Treorchy,” said Hill. “They played some excellent rugby, they could say they were robbed. It was only our scrum and lineout which kept us in the game.

“We made 13 changes for this game to use the squad and I had hoped it would only take 20 minutes for the squad to gel, but it took a lot longer than that. They played the better rugby and deserve plenty of credit for some good rugby.”

Treorchy Team Manager Howard Lazarus was disappointed, but proud of his players after their heroic display. He said: “It was their scrimmage which kept them in the game, it was gutting to lose like that, but the boys played some great rugby and should be proud of themselves.”

Llandaff North, of Four East, provided perhaps the biggest shock of the round, sneaking past One West’s Builth Wells. The two teams were level at 20-20 going into the closing minutes, and the game seemed destined for extra destined for extra time, before North’s win Matthew Wright intercepted a loose Builth pass, to race home for a 79th minute winner.

Penallta, top of Three East, continued their good run adding the scalp of Carmarthen Quins, the unbeaten leaders of Division Two West, to their growing collection. Tries from Carl Rees, Gavin Davies and Shaun Powell gave Penallta the 24-14 win which will boost their quest for promotion.

Daniel Morris and Stuart Johnson crossed to gave Division Two East Tredegar a surprise 19-11 win against Division One East’s Llanharan, but their was to be no upset at Bargoed, where two penalty tries and a Gary Jones score were enough to dispatch Welsh District side Cambrian Welfare 22-13.