North have upper hand as Llanelli find it tough

LLANELLI ........................... 12 RGC 1404 ............................ 41

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 prop WillGriff John, but they were no match for the North Walians.

The visitors scored their first try after a just minute when Dafydd Williams showed his ferocious 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 healthy 20-5 half-time advantage.

Llanelli started the second half strongly with Williams claiming his brace, but it was nothing more than a respite as Sam Earl-Jones’s 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 when he powered over from close range.

“We built the score in the first half and 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.

“It’s Cardiff next, and our first home game of the season, so we need to focus on building on what we did in Llanelli.”

Llanelli, whose sole league victory this term came on the opening day against Swansea, will look to regain the winning thread on Saturday when they face their first West Wales derby of the campaign as they make the short trip to Carmarthen Quins.

LLANELLI  Tries: B Williams (2). Con: J Phillips.

RGC1404  Tries: D Williams, S Williams, P Jones, E Jones, S EarlJones, D Owen. Cons: S Rogers (3), D Jones. Pen: S Rogers.