HYATT SALUTES MORE MAGIC AS WIZARDS SEAL ANOTHER WIN
TABLE-TOPPING Aberavon heaped more misery on Carmarthen Quins in the Indigo Premiership with a 33-17 victory at the Talbot Athletic Ground.
The Wizards grabbed their bonuspoint try shortly after half-time and at no point looked troubled as the Quins fell to their third successive league defeat.
Aberavon built early pressure through the indiscipline of the visitors, who struggled with the Wizards forward power early on.
“The first half was a great advert for Premiership rugby,” said Aberavon head coach Jason Hyatt.
“It was end-to-end stuff. I could see from the players at half-time how physical and fast it was.
“I’m very pleased with how we are playing. We’ve looked comfortable with ball in hand, our defence has been strong and we’re delighted with the set-piece.
“The strength of the squad is phenomenal and it means we’ve got some brilliant players coming off the bench.
“It’s a close-knit group and the players are at the heart of driving their own standards.
“We’ve had an excellent start, but we can’t get too complacent. There are a lot of tough teams in this league and it doesn’t get any easier next week when we go to Pontypridd.”
The pressure paid off in the sixth minute when Rhodri Cole dived over. Aled Thomas’ conversion was successful.
However, Steffan Marshall reduced the deficit with a penalty for the away side.
Bradley Roderick then picked up a pass off his shoelaces and put an intelligent grubber behind the Quins defence to send Frankie Jones unopposed in the corner.
The Quins began to frustrate the home side, but the few attacking opportunities they created were stifled through some exceptional lineout steals from Sam Williams.
The Quins continued to attack before the half-time whistle, and the pressure paid off as Geraint Llewellyn was allowed an easy run-in. Marshall added the extras.
But Aberavon were allowed to hit straight back just before the break. Andrew Waite was allowed to steam through, opening gaps around him, which allowed Rhodri Cole to finish off.
Aberavon struck first in the second half, earning themselves a try bonus point in the process. A cracking break from Jonathan Phillips set the home side on the attack and Ashton Evans was able to push over from close range.
The home side maintained the pressure, winning several scrum penalties under the Quins posts. James Newnian was sin-binned before Gabe Lacey dotted down out wide.
The visitors hit back when Rhodri Davies broke through. They remained patient and Josh Batcup found Kallum Evans on the overlap to score.
Marshall added the extras to make it 33-17.
And Aron Hemmings scored a deserved consolation try near the end.
■ RGC 1404 ran in six tries to thrash Llanelli 41-12 at Parc y Scarlets to claim their first victory of the season.
Llanelli named a strong side which included Wales tighthead WillGriff John, but they were no match for the North Walians.
The visitors scored their first try after a minute when Dafydd Williams showed his pace to score in the corner.
Llanelli hit straight back with a powerful carry from Eddie James getting them over the gainline before Wales U20 No. 8 Ben Williams powered over from close range.
Sam Rogers nudged RGC back ahead with a penalty before Sam Williams claimed their second try from a driving line-out.
Llanelli had no answer to the raw physicality of their visitors and failed to find a way to stop their driving maul which gave them another try with Pedr Jones the beneficiary to give RGC a 20-5 half-time lead.
Llanelli started the second half strongly with Williams claiming his brace, but it was nothing more than a respite as Sam Earl-Jones’ pass put Efan Jones over for the bonus-point score.
Earl-Jones’s pace then saw him cross for a try of his own. Dan Owen completed the scoring as he powered over from close range.
“We took the opportunities when they were on offer,” said RGC head coach Ceri Jones.
“The fact we had the points on the board enabled us to open up in the second half and we were able to express ourselves.
“We’ve been frustrated with ourselves in the past couple of games, but today we showed what we are about.
■ An outstanding Swansea earned a 45-22 victory over Pontypridd in an action-packed thriller at St Helen’s.
The home side grabbed an early try when Gareth J Rees spotted a gap five metres from his own line, before throwing a short pass that Dan Edwards burst onto to score under the posts.
A second Swansea try followed soon after with half-backs Edwards and Rees combining well again to send Harri Houston over the whitewash.
Just before half-time the visitors reduced the deficit to seven points when Joe Miles sent Rory Harries over.
Ten minutes into the second half the visitors’ dominance up front paid off and there was a sense of inevitability when the pack earned a penalty try at the scrum.
But Pontypridd then gave away possession inside their own 22 and the mistake proved costly when Harri Deaves crashed over for a try. And the flanker secured his side a bonus point when the ball was fed through multiple phases before he stretched over.
The All Whites sealed victory when Hanno Dirksen burst through the
middle and chipped to the corner for Iestyn Hopkins to score and in the dying minutes both sides grabbed tries through Fijian international Niko Matawalu and Hopkins. ■ Wales U20 fly-half Ben Burnell kept Cardiff’s unbeaten record in the Indigo Premiership intact as his lastgasp penalty secured a 20-19 victory over Ebbw Vale.
The Steelmen led for most of the contest with fly-half Evan Lloyd’s boot the difference between the sides before Burnell’s penalty secured the win for the home side.
Lloyd finished with 14 points from the boot, with Harrison James, Jamie Hill and Joey Tomlinson crossing for Cardiff tries.
In a tight first half, Lloyd kept the Steelmen ahead with three penalties. Harrison crossed for a home try with the visitors 9-7 head at the break.
After the interval Cardiff took the lead with a try by scrum-half Hill, before Lloyd levelled the score with his fourth penalty.
Dave Whiting crossed for the Steelmen, a try that was converted by Lloyd, before Cardiff hit back with a third try by replacement Tomlinson.
Then Burnell’s penalty snatched victory. ■ Llandovery kept their unbeaten record intact with a hard-earned 15-13 win over Newport.
The Welsh Cup holders slugged it out toe to toe with the Carmarthenshire side, but extra composure in a frantic last 10 minutes carried Llandovery home.
Both sets of forwards put in huge shifts of hard graft, with Llandovery No. 8 Iestyn Rees outstanding. Behind the scrum it was the buzz and energy of scrum-half Lee Rees that made the difference in a helter-skelter finale.
Llandovery led 8-6 at half-time, scoring one try through hooker Craig Thomas who burrowed through from a driven line-out.
Full-back Jack Maynard kicked a fine 40-metre penalty, while fly-half Kieran Meek landed two penalties for the visitors.
When Newport forced a penalty try at a rolling maul early in the second half, it looked that Llandovery might suffer under the weight of their bigger opponents.
Things turned with the yellowcarding of Newport replacement hooker Will Griffiths and the home pack pounded away for the vital score.
Replacement prop Llyr Green eventually found a hole in the defence to tie the scores and Maynard added the crucial conversion.