Llandovery into final

LLANDOVERY College went through to the final of the Welsh Colleges Cup when they edged out Coleg y Cymoedd 16-10 at a wet and windy Church Bank, writes Huw S Thomas.

They will meet Cardiff and Vale College at the Principality Stadium on December 8 in an evening game that will be televised live on S4C.

The Cardiff-based college walloped Gower College 44-0 in their last game before the final.

It was far from an easy passage into the final, but the Lilywhites, coached by former Wales back-row man Nathan Thomas, fought like tigers to keep out Y Cymoedd in a tense finish.

Thomas said: “We have a limited playing base being such a small school, but the boys have worked hard all year, kept improving and deserve their place in the final

“The side put in a massive effort, we had to hang on at times but the resolve to make the final carried us over the line.”

Llandovery had to overcome an early setback when Cymoedd lock Jack Payne went over from a maul after just six minutes for a try converted by Jacob Symes.

The Lilywhites eventually drew level when a clever grubber kick from scrum-half Iwan Hughes allowed his half-back partner Fraser Jones to get to the ball first.

Jones converted with a fine kick, but the pressure was back on when lock Adam Davies was yellow-carded for pulling down a maul near his own line.

Jones extended the lead to 10-7 with a huge kick from near halfway, but Llandovery had a lot to thank Henry Jones for, with a fine tackle by the lock keeping Y Cymoedd out.

Early after the break, replacement Rhys Harries made it 13-7 with a penalty.

Back came the visitors with a penalty from Llew Brown and it took firm Llandovery defence to ride the storm.

Victory was sealed two minutes from time when Harries put over his second penalty of the night.