Llanharan see danger signs after suffering emphatic loss
DIVISION ONE EAST CENTRAL LLANHARAN .................5 MOUNTAIN ASH .........33
LLANHARAN lost emphatically to second placed Mount in this lively Dairyfield encounter, and the result put their standing in perspective after last year’s disaster.
The club knew that relegation would mean a determined effort needed to halt the slide and not end up like other championship outfits such as Tondu And Blackwood who slipped straight through to the League Two section.
A major restructuring in the summer saw home-grown personnel take charge of on field matters, and an intensive recruitment programme with promising signs.
However, whilst a further drop would be surprising, this game showed Llanharan how far they have to go to start aiming championship- ward in the future.
Their main strength was a powerful set piece scrum, but elsewhere the Black and Blues were very much second best to the Cynon Valley lads who demonstrated all round competence.
Not that the Dairymen were helped by the withdrawal of line out ace Kieran Martin, their subsequent disaster in that department illustrating the point.
Mix in poor tackles, wrong angles, dubious tactics, and turnovers and the only surprise is that Mount accumulated merely four tries.
In fact it was a mystery why they opted to put over a penalty from half way when already 30-5 up, although perhaps that was a tribute to their op- ponents never say die effort despite their shortcomings.
Skipper Huw Thomas, a prime example of that endeavour, accepted their second best performance, but looked forward to Saturday’s WRU Plate game at home to Mold as a chance to take the embryonic team forward, and inspire a side hugely reconstructed since the summer.
In fact Llanharan started brightly with some eye-catching ball handling as they fought their way out of defence, but Mount countered with their own attacking aplomb and within fifteen minutes were leading through a Liam Jones penalty and a David Richards try, significantly also from a line out.