Title challengers Milford Haven showed just why they are many observers favourites to lift the division 3 championship with a six try demolition of Cardigan at the King George.
The hosts who started brightly enough flattered to deceive for most of the game and apart from a late flurry in the final quarter following the introduction of player coach Colin Davies they rarely looked like crossing the whitewash.
The Mariners who are the only division 3 west A team undefeated following six wins on the bounce opened the scoring when outstanding flanker Ryan Mansell finished off a smart team move for a try against the run of play. Cardigan enjoyed a couple of chances before this with full back and skipper John Lumb going close but these missed opportunities were to come back and haunt them later in the afternoon.
Scrum half Dan McClelland increased the visitors lead when he caught the Cardi defence napping with a quickly taken tap penalty as home prop Andrew Fletcher was being shown a yellow card.
Milford added a third try just after the break from a rolling maul with full back Joseph Kiff eventually claiming the try and right winger James Trueman took full advantage of some poor tackling to kill the game off at 20-0 with the fourth try.
Outstanding fly half Evan Morgan set up the fifth try for his team when he made a superb break from the half way line before he fed his half back partner McClelland who dived over to make it 25-0.
Cardigan rung the changes late on and the introduction of number eight Davies sparked a mini revival and he powered his way over from a scrum to put his team on the board and a second try soon followed when hard working second row Sion Phillips scampered over for a try converted by fly half Iwan John. However it was the Mariners who had the last word when stand off Morgan rounded off a fine game with the try of the match and this was duly converted from under the posts by winger Trueman.
A very disappointing afternoon for Cardigan especially after such a bright start but their inability to turn pressure into points and their insistence on kicking away possession in promising situations made life far easier for Milford than it should have been.
Nevertheless there were plenty of hard working performances from the likes of hooker Dan Evans, prop Fletcher, second row Phillips and blind side Tom Taylor who carried effectively. Centres Emyr Harries and Marcus Castle put in some big tackles and full back Lumb made a couple of excellent breaks but unfortunately for him and his side they came to nothing with the Mariners defence outstanding throughout.
A big blow for Cardigan was that loss of centre Castle on the hour as it was later confirmed that he had suffered a fractured ankle. All rugby supporters will wish this popular player a speedy recovery.
