Drovers hold off spirited Whites rally

LLANDOVERY gave head coach Euros Evans the reaction he was looking for in the wake of a home defeat to Pontypridd as they hung on to beat Swansea at St Helen’s.

In a classic game of two halves, the Drovers scored 15 unanswered points in the opening 40 before the Whites came storming back into the contest with 13 points of their own without reply. That cut the gap to two points and set up a nervy final quarter.

“We are making a habit of letting teams back into games. It’s happened a couple of times this season,” said Llandovery fly-half James Garland.

“Swansea came out fighting in the second half and we had to show a lot of guts and determination in defence to keep them out.

“It’s a condensed season and we’ve just got to keep on winning and hope other results go our way.”

The visitors made life difficult for themselves as they played 46 minutes with only 14 men. Back-row man Griff Evans followed home wing Curtis Davies to the sin-bin on the half-hour mark and picked up a second yellow four minutes after the restart for a deliberate knock-on.

That action prevented a try for the Whites and got the home side on a roll. Penalties from James Davies and Marc Popham cut the gap to two points and put the Drovers

under extreme pressure.

Llandovery’s bright opening contained two tries from hooker Jamie Cox. Kris Jones converted the latter and Garland landed a 25-metre drop-goal.

After that, Jones landed a longrange penalty and Ashley Evans went over to claim a try that Jones improved.

Swansea scored in the last play of the game when Hanno Dirksen went over for a try that he converted, but it was too little, too late.

SWANSEA  Tries: pen try, H Dirksen. Con: H Dirksen. Pens: J Davies, L Popham. LLANDOVERY  Tries: J Cox (2), A Evans. Cons: K Jones (2). Pen: K Jones. Drop-goal: J Garland.