Fisher’s delight as five-star Llanelli find their best form

LLANELLI ........................ 35 BRIDGEND ........................ 3

LLANELLI scored five tries as they thrashed a poor Bridgend outfit at Parc y Scarlets to continue their rise up the table.

Paul Fisher’s side are in a fight, with the bottom four sides set to be relegated to the WRU National Championship. Having languished near the bottom of the table for much of the season, this bonus-point victory will have given the West Walians real hope of survival.

“For the first time there was added pressure in a game between two teams in the relegation zone and it really was a 10-pointer for us. There is a clear top nine and bottom seven split in the table at the moment and so this was a big win for us,” said Fisher.

“It was a clinical performance from us and we benefitted from having a few regional academy players in our side.

“We’ve got Neath at home on Friday night and need to pick up more points from that one.

“Nobody knows what is going to happen at Neath, but we have to prepare properly.

“We know what happened to Bargoed when they went to The Gnoll.”

Llanelli outplayed Matt Silva’s side in every aspect as they put together their most complete performance of the season.

Tries from Liam Hutchings, Richard Bassett, Nathan Hart, Jake Baker and Kalum Evans were enough to bag a third win of the season and move them to within three points of the two teams above them in the safety zone.

Outside-half Ioan Hughes converted all five tries, while the only points Silva’s side could muster was a penalty from Wales Under-20 star Cai Evans. It was a fifth defeat in a row for the Ravens, who now face Aberavon, Cross Keys and Neath.

Evans opened the scoring with a simple penalty from in front of the posts but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Hutchings opened the scoring for Llanelli when he crossed in the corner after some neat handling.

Basset powered his way over after a well-worked driving line-out and Llanelli’s scrum was just as good with Hart scoring their third try from short range courtesy of a powerful surge.

Hart’s try and Hughes’ conversion meant Llanelli turned around 21-3 ahead at the interval. Llanelli secured the bonus-point try midway through the second half when Baker brushed aside some weak tackling for a score on his debut.

Full-back Evans then showed tremendous pace to run in unopposed from 30 metres out.

LLANELLI – Tries: L Hutchings, R Bassett, N Hart, J Baker, K Evans; Cons: I Hughes 5.

BRIDGEND – Pen: C Evans.