WRU Championship.
Newcastle Emlyn 13 Rhydyfelin 12
An opportunist try scored by winger Llyr Jones in the dying minutes of this game sealed a narrow but well deserved victory over Rhydyfelin.
Jones took full advantage of some poor communication by the visitors defence to sneak in and touch down the ball down right under the noses of the opposition for a try that turned out to be the match winner.
This was the second win on the bounce for the red and whites but they had to hang on at the end with their opponents pressing hard and waiting for a chance of a pot at goal with just one point in the game.
Eventually the final whistle was sounded and the hosts secured an important victory against plucky opponents who will probably feel they should have sneaked the verdict themselves as long kicking full back David Gratton missed two decent opportunities.
Emlyn started off positively and took the game deep into the visitors half and a two handed take by second row Dan Havard ended in skipper and hooker Alex Williams being accredited with the touchdown from a driving maul.
The visitors hit back when Gratton slotted over a penalty but the hosts were looking comfortable with the ball in their hands, going through sequence after sequence and retaining possession very well with outside half Mitchell Jones controlling matters.
When Jones had to leave the field midway through the half with a serious looking ankle injury replacement Dyfan Dafydd slotted smoothly into the role and they extended their lead with a Dan Davies penalty.
Just before the break Rhydyfelin managed to get back into the Emlyn half and were awarded a penalty which full back Gratton converted from forty five metres. The same player then added to his tally soon afterwards with another long range effort.
The game took a fairly significant change after the break when the visitors had to replace their second prop and opted for uncontested scrums. Up to this point the Emlyn front row of props Dai Jones and Dai Bryant, along with hooker Alex Williams, had given their much vaunted opponents a torrid time at the scrum. Indeed the veteran Bryant was fully deserving of his man of the match award with a powerful display in the tight, making life extremely uncomfortable for his opponent.
Unfortunately Emlyn took some time to adapt to uncontested scrums and their game went off the boil allowing Rhydyfelin back into the game.
Within a few minutes Emlyn attempted to run the ball out of defence only for the player in possession to run into tacklers and conceded a penalty for not releasing.
Fortunately for the home side Gratton just missed with possibly his easiest kick of the day. Emlyn then conceded another penalty which Gratton this time converted from some thirty metres to give his team a four point lead.
With time beginning to run out the red and whites threw everything into attack but could not find a way through the visitors defence but they managed to eventually with just a few minutes to go.
After a series of forward drives were held up just short of the line replacement scrum half Dafydd Evans cleverly chipped over the top of the defenders into the in-goal area. Obviously not accustomed to the large in-goal space at Dol Wiber the visitors cover hesitated expecting the ball to cross the dead ball line and only stood and watched as speedy winger Llyr Jones shot past them to touch the ball down for a try.
Unfortunately the conversion failed which meant that all Rhydyfelin had to do was get into Emlyn territory in the dying moments and hope the red and whites would concede yet another penalty kick.
The nerves of the Emlyn supporters were on edge as the kick off was fumbled, conceding possession to the visitors, and their pack went through a series of drives around the ten metre line. Fortunately Emlyn’s defence was equally as determined and they managed to last out the few minutes of injury time without conceding a penalty, and a great sigh of relief was heard as the final whistle was blown by the excellent referee Andrew Moule.
