After soaking up some early pressure Sir Gar made all the running and skipper Lewis Ellis-Jones crashed over for the first try midway through the first half. Scott Lloyd’s conversion came back off the upright, but the centre landed a penalty to make it 8-0 at the break.
Back row dynamo George David had been denied a try in the first half by some brilliant cover defence from scrum half Nathan Griffiths, but there was no stopping him after the break as he went over in the right corner to stretch the lead to 13 points.
Cymoedd skipper Alun Lawrence conceded a penalty try for tackling a player without the ball as a Harri Doel chip towards the visitors’ line caught the defence out of position. Lloyd’s conversion made it 20-0 and not even a try by centre Eddie Francis could save face for the champions.
“We expected it to be tough down here, but we were surprised that our forwards didn’t turn up. It is always difficult down here when it is the two best teams playing each other,” said Cymoedd rugby director Clive Jones.
“We said after last week’s win over Gower College that we still had some issues to correct and we did that pretty well. Our defence behind the scrum against a good back lie was very impressive.”
Gower College showed their quality at Sardis Road in the opening round of the Cup competition by running Cymoedd so close and they piled on the points at Swansea Uplands against Coleg Gwent.
The home side ran in eight tries in a 53-17 victory that included a brace of tries for skipper and scrum half Sam Cambriani, centre Callum Carson and wing Brandon Wood. Carson’s double act took his tally in two outings to five, while Wood ended up with 21 points as he also kicked four conversions and a penalty.
Back row man Evan Budge and wing Jake Tucker also scored tries and outside half Corey Evans chipped in with a penalty. The Gower success also came despite losing two players to the sin-bin in the second half and being reduced to 13 men at one stage.
No 8 Dan Sheppard and hooker Will Griffiths crossed for tries for Gwent and Duane Thomas converted them both and kicked a penalty.
Cai Evans was the hero for Cowbridge CS as he kicked two second half penalties to go with a try from No 8 Reuben Williams to earn his side an 11-8 win over Cardiff & Vale College. Tony Lamerton crossed for the visitors try and Ben Thomas kicked a penalty.
There were 11 tries to savour in a 78 point thriller at Glantaf as the home side eventually emerged as 44-34 winners over Llandovery College to notch their second successive victory in the Trophy tournament.
Llandovery led 19-13 at the break thanks to two tries from centre Tomi Lewis, but a second try from his opposite number, Sion O’Brien, in the second half edged Glantaf ahead 34-29. No 8 Owen Jones then added a fifth home try before Llandovery lock Olly White cut the gap at the death to four points with a fifth try for the visitors.
Then Glantaf centre Max Llewellyn put the issue beyond doubt with his side’s sixth try to ensure his side built on their win over Whitchurch HS the previous week. Glantaf, who travel to meet Newport HS next week, are now joint top with Neath & Port Talbot College.
Neath & Port Talbot College ran in five tries in their 33-13 win over Coleg Llandrillo at Prac Eirias in Colwyn Bay. Flanker Harry Bevan grabbed two of them and wings Conan Doye and Kyle Jones also crossed.
Replacement Corey Dyer got the fifth and final try and there were four conversions from outside half Luke Scully. Llandrillo had tries from scrum half Iago Davies and full back Morgan Kirkham and a penalty from centre Armani Roberts.
Whitchurch HS just managed to hold on to pip Bridgend College 25-24 to notch their first win in the Trophy. They had beaten the same side 44-6 in the qualifying stages.
