Having fallen at the first hurdle at Llandovery, the WRU National Cup holders were outscored by four tries to three by their visitors, but were able to rely on Botica’s mighty boot to claim a morale boosting victory.
Former RGC coach Phil Davies, now in charge at Llanelli, missed the return to his old stamping ground because of a World Rugby coaching conference in America, but would have been pleased to see his young side pick up two bonus points after their long trip. For another former Llanelli great, RGC head coach Mark Jones, it was a triumph over his old club.
Blockbusting home centre Tom Hughes opened the scoring with a trademark score and Botica’s conversion made it 7-0. But Llanelli hit back quickly and went ahead with tries from their wings Tom Rogers and Ryan Conbeer.
But the home side were back in front at the break, 14-10, thanks to a driving line-out try from Henri Williams that Botica improved. The lead was improved when Evan Yardley trundled over from the back of a driving maul soon after the re-start, but Matthew Flanagan hit back for the visitors with their third try to keep the game in the melting pot at 19-15.
Botica extended the RGC lead with a penalty, but Llanelli’s fourth try from Craig Simpson, which Nathan Hart converted, tied the scores at 22-22 with 12 minutes left to p[lay. Now it was anybody’s game, but Llanelli coughed-up a late penalty and Botica kept his cool to win the game with two minutes left on the clock.
Aberavon took the early season bragging rights over local rivals Swansea with a thrilling triumph 41-28 triumph at St. Helen’s. The hosts got off to a positive start thanks to a pair of penalties from Owen Howe, before Jon Phillips kicked off the try-fest for the Wizards to make it 6-5.
Once they got going they could not stop and they were soon two scores ahead thanks to James Garland, who converted his own try. Hooker Luke Davies crashed over to send the Wizards 19-6 clear, before Howe landed a third penalty to cut the gap to 10 points at half-time.
Shaun Pearce wrapped up the bonus-point after the break to put Aberavon on easy street at 26-9. But the Wizards did not have it all their own way saw their lead cut to only five points after Howe and Thomas Ball got over the whitewash.
Garland landed a drop-goal, but the Whites continued their revival through Rhys Williams to close the gap to a single point. But that scare sparked the visitors into life and they soon re-established control in the final 10 minutes through Ben Jones.
And there was still enough time for Garland to score his second and convert to make the scoreline look a lot more flattering than the game reflected.
Llandovery made it two wins from two with a commanding 31-13 triumph at Bridgend. Aaron Warren became the Drovers’ all-time leading try-scorer last weekend, and he continued his fine early season form by going over to give his side an early 7-0 advantage.
Ryan Evans pulled three points back from the tee, but it was about to get worse for the hosts when Joe Powell rounded his man to score and Jack Maynard converted. The Ravens were given hope when Llandovery’s Ricky Guest was sent to the sin-bin.
Evans notched a second penalty, but that could only out a dent in the West Walians’ commanding 14-6 lead at half-time. The hosts came flying out the blocks after the break to get within a single point of Llandovery.
Aaron Grabham raced over, but they were denied the lead when the conversion hit the cross-bar. But normal service was resumed when Tom Lewis crossed, before things got harder for the hosts, who lost Jamie Lee Murphy to the sin-bin.
And they were made to pay by the Drovers, who scored through Rhodri Wall and Lee Rees to make sure they would be making it two wins from two to start their Premiership campaign.
Ed Howley scored a last-gasp try to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for resurgent Neath at home against Carmarthen Quins as they ran out 18-15 winners to continue their perfect start to the season.
Howley scored 13 of his side’s points to steer his men to a second successive victory in the West Division. Quins got off the mark with an early penalty but found themselves behind 10 minutes later.
The try came from an unlikely source as tighthead prop Geraint Jones crashed over, with Howley converting for a 7-3 lead. Howley was on-target again with a penalty to stretch their advantage to seven points, before Quins hauled themselves back into it at the Gnoll.
It was flying wing Morgan Griffiths who raced home, but they failed to level things up with the conversion and Neath headed into the changing rooms with the scores at 10-8 at half-time. This tense encounter remained exactly that after the break, but Neath gave themselves some breathing space through the boot of Howley.
But the West Walians wrestled back control of this intriguing contest with less than 10 minutes remaining when Staff Jones crashed over for a converted score to make it 15-13. But just when his side needed him, Howley came to the rescue to score the match winning try at the death to break Quins’ hearts.
