Wales Under 20 wing Ryan Conbeer was sent racing over for his sixth try of the season after a great run from Jake Newman and Lewis Williams’ conversion gave the home side the dream start. But having taken a sixth minute lead, the next 34 minutes were dominated by the Gogs as they scored at a point a minute to race into a 34-7 lead.
Tim Grey brought up the bonus-point with the fourth try before Oli Reyland crossed for a second try for the home side on the stroke of half-time to cut the gap to 20 points.
RGC head coach Mark Jones, back in the town where he played for so long as a player, used the second half as an opportunity to look at his replacements, but wasn’t overly impressed by what he saw. The second half was won 3-2 in tries by Llanelli and 17-14 in points.
“It was an opportunity to have a look at the bench when we were 34-14 up, and I felt we weren’t as hungry when we rotated the side. You expect a lack of energy when players have played 60 minutes, not when they have come on,” said Jones.
“We will have to work on some aspects, but we played some good rugby in the first half and it was pleasing to see some of the set-piece work from training being rewarded on the field. We asked the players to attack from deep when they had the opportunity and we picked up a couple of tries as result.
“It was our second bonus-point win of the season against a good Llanelli side that have been on a decent run, so we move on to next week and look to push on again.”
Carmarthen Quins are now within five points of the league leaders following their six-try, 39-17 thumping of down on their luck Neath. The visitors had Sion Crocker sent to the sin bin in the 70th minute and had Richard Smith sent off a minute later to force them to play the final nine minutes with only 13 men.
Morgan Griffiths brought up the bonus point for the home side with his 65th minute touchdown and flanker Ellis Lloyd and wing Dale Ford rubbed it in with two more tries before the game ended. To their credit, Neath picked up three tries of their own through lock Rhys Jones, Smith and Geraint James.
Neath are now four points adrift at the bottom of the table, although the fact their two nearest rivals both lost away from home as well certainly helped their cause. There was at least a losing bonus point for Swansea in a 13-9 defeat at Aberavon, where a try from Rob Dudley-Jones and eight points from the boot of skipper James Garland edged out three Owen Howe penalties for the All Whites.
Second placed Llandovery got back to winning ways after their 24-7 defeat against RGC in Colwyn Bay with a five try romp against Bridgend. The Drovers led 21-3 at the break and former Wales Sevens World Cup winning hero Lee Williams bagged the bonus-point try early in the second half.
