WORTHINGTON’S GLAMORGAN COUNTY SILVER BALL FINAL
ABERAVON QUINS 17 LLANTWIT FARDRE 3
Aberavon Quins regained the coveted Worthington’s Glamorgan County Silver Ball trophy after a gap of 28 years and were just about value for the win.
The game at Llanharan RFC’s Dairy Field was better than the try-count of 1-0 showed and Llantwit Fardre, who led 3-0 after five minutes, were storming right back into it with ten minutes remaining and Quins having a player in the sin-bin.
It was Llantwit who opened with a penalty by scrum half Carl Thomas, but Quins fly half Marc Sheppard soon levelled it and it was 3-3 at the interval.
Both full backs, Michael Thomas of Llantwit and Mike Parfitt for the Quins showed good skills and Quins wing Steve Colarusso was dangerous. The wind was in the Quins favour as Sheppard added a hat-trick of penalties and Llantwit had two players yellow-carded before the Quins also had one, but in the latter period and three minutes from time, great Quins driving play saw their good No 8 Daniel Owen go over the line near the corner.
Llantwit somehow could not score, dropping the ball when the line loomed and even seven minutes of injury time failed to bring another score. Quins flanker and captain, Richard Wanklyn, received the Man of the Match trophy.
Llantwit introduced the veteran lock Lyndsay Harvey in the dying minutes. He was a former Wales under-21 captain from lock in 1993. In a splendid under-13s game preceding the final, Bridgend Athletic defeated Aberavon Quins by 19-14.
Teams. Aberavon Quins – Mike Parfitt; Adam Dawe, Neil Pugsley, Gareth Pugh, Steve Colarusso; Marc Sheppard, James Peploe Williams; Lloyd Hayden, James Davies, Neil Crockett, Billy Lavis, Darren Gibbs, Craig Cox, Daniel Owen, Richard Wanklyn (capt).
Reps – Richard Diaz, Paul Miller, Karl Davies, Chris Jones, Asley Davies, Jamie Lean, James Owen, Jamie Morgan, Ricki Parfitt. Try – Daniel Owen. Pens – Marc Sheppard 4.
Llantwit Fardre – Michael Thomas (capt); Dean Thomas, Kevin Russell, Neil Sloane, Keiran Evans; Dan Povey, Carl Thomas; Lee Williams, Andrew Evans, Ben Lee, James Goodman, Chris Barry, Dominic Masters, Greg Williams, Lewis James.
Reps – Matthew Howells, Phil Rees, Lyndsay Harvey, Bernie Williams, Steven Jones, Andrew Webb, Paul Davies.
Pen – Carl Thomas. Referee – Phil Connett (Hafodyrynys).
