The Super Rygbi Cymru victory at Newport Stadium could well emerge as a turning point in the season for the Drovers, who ended last season as both the Indigo Premiership champions – beating Newport in the final – and the WRU Premiership Cup.
But after three successive defeats to RGC and Ebbw Vale, both home and away, they needed to get back on the winning trail and they did just that as they took away the Black & Ambers unbeaten record.
“It was very much a backs-against-the-wall performance. Winning was everything on the night,” said Evans.
“We had to turn up and put in a proper performance after losing those back-to-back games against Ebbw Vale. Now we have two games before the break against Swansea and Aberavon to try to build on this win before coming back strong at the end of November.
“I think the players thought they could just turn up against Ebbw Vale last week and win because we were playing at home. We hadn’t lost at Church Bank for quite a while, so it was a shock to the system.
“Going to Newport is always difficult and we had to be at our best. We got a good start, stayed in the lead and got over the line in the end, which was the main goal.”
While Evans was happy to leave with four points his opposite number Ty Morris will have been frustrated that a late push got his side close, but not close enough. Even so, they picked up two bonus-points to overtake Cardiff at the top of the table.
The Drovers built up a 10-point lead through a sixth minute try from skipper Lee Rees and a conversion and penalty from his half-back partner Ioan Hughes. Newport hit back with a wonder try from wing Lloyd Lewis, who slalomed his way over from half-way to register his first try of the campaign.
Matt O’Brien, as he did with all four home tries, added the extras, but then Newport lost former Wales U20 lock Joe Peard to a yellow card. They didn’t concede while he was off the field, but four minutes before the break Jamie Hughes crashed over for a second try for the visitors which Hughes improved to make it 17-7 at the break.
Hughes kicked a penalty to extend the lead early in the second half before Newport skipper Ben Roach reduced the gap to six points with his try. Hughes then conjured up a third Llandovery try with successive cross kicks from right to left and then left to right to enable wing Toby Baldwin to score.
Hughes took his match tally to 15 points with another conversion and penalty to make it 30-14 with 12 minutes to go. If the game seemed done and dusted at that stage, Newport had other ideas.
Two quickly taken tap penalties taken by O’Brien within 10-metres of the Llandovery line paved the way for Chay Foster-Smith and then Barney Nightingdale to crash over for tries that O’Brien converted.
That cut the gap to two points and rescued something for the home side to take out of an enthralling contest.
Cardiff will go back to the top of the table if they can win on the road at Swansea this weekend. Looking to build on their 50-0 home win over Carmarthen Quins last time out – they had been beaten at Carmarthen Park by the Quins the week before – and will have Wales U20 outside half Harri Wilde back in the No 10 shirt after recovering from a broken jaw.
Wilde’s return allows 18-year-old Steff Emanuel to move back into the centre to partner fellow teenager Elijah Evans. Tom Bowen and Matty Young, two more teenagers, are also included in the back line.
“I was really pleased with the bounce back we had last week against the Quins. We had a real strong defensive effort to nil them,” said Cardiff head coach Dan Fish.
“We also scored some good tries with exciting attacking rugby. We know Swansea are going to come out firing at home and we need to match that.
“We’ve made a couple of change,s and we know that we are building a competitive squad which is very healthy to have in this league.”
Having banked back-to-back wins over Llandovery, Jason Strange’s Ebbw Vale team host RGC, while the Quins welcome Pontypool to Carmarthen Park. Aberavon host Swansea in the other Round 5 fixtures.
Scott Baldwin’s Bridgend side will be hoping to build on their two wins over Swansea in their last outings. They edged a 27-24 thriller at St Helen’s before winning 38-10 at home to take a maximum six points.
