College denied at the death

CHRIST College gained a 17-16 victory over old rivals Llandovery College, writes Huw S Thomas.

Centre Rhys Pearson claimed the crucial score five minutes from time with a finely judged penalty from 35 metres.

Llandovery looked to have sneaked home thanks to a penalty by fly-half Osian Jones.

The Brecon forwards then forced a penalty but Pearson was short from 45 metres.

Llandovery gave away another penalty in a similar position and threw the ball away in frustration. Referee Neil Hennessy marched the Lilywhites back 10 metres and it gave Pearson the chance to stroke over the winning kick.

The drama was not over as Llandovery earned a penalty near halfway but it was out of Jones’s range on the sticky surface.

In a desperate throw of the dice, Jones found touch deep into the Brecon half and from the line-out his forwards drove furiously to the home line.

But just as it looked that they would snatch the game out of the fire, outstanding Brecon No. 8 Nick House forced a penalty at the breakdown.

Llandovery fly-half Jones opened the scoring with a penalty before the home forwards surged upfield from a line-out for House to claim a try.

Pearson’s conversion gave his side a 7-3 interval lead before Howells finished off a blindside attack with a slaloming run that took him under the Llandovery posts.

Down 14-3, Llandovery enjoyed their best patch of the game. Jones kicked a penalty before pressure on the Brecon line eventually paid off with Dylan Rowe crossing under the posts. Jones converted and added another penalty to put Llandovery ahead.

And then came the nail-biting end to an ultra-competitive game in the great tradition of this unique fixture.