PHILLIPS BOOT SINKS DUNVANT

Division 1 west

Crymych 20 Dunvant 18

Two tries from busy open side Sion Collela helped steer Crymych to a hard fought win over Dunvant at Parc Lloyd Thomas.

The Preselimen who were adrift going into the final quarter mounted a spirited fightback to set up an exciting finale which allowed centre Ifan Phillips an opportunity to slot over a winning penalty in the dying minutes, which he did with aplomb.

This second win of the season against sixth-placed Dunvant has lifted the North Pembrokeshire side up into fourth from bottom and coach Randall Williams will be looking to make further inroads over the next month or so. Williams and assistant John Davies, the former Wales, Neath and Scarlets prop will have been chuffed with the way their young team managed to dig deep at a stage when Dunvant could have run away with the game and also with some of the outstanding work up front, especially at scrum time.

Another bonus will have been the influence of the bench late in the game when the visiting pack started to tire and this had a huge bearing on the eventual outcome.

It was the hosts who were first out of the blocks and they went ahead when flanker Colella crossed for a well worked try initiated by back row colleagues Guto and Osian Davies and this was converted by centre Phillips. Dunvant though responded with a penalty from Dan White and were then awarded a penalty try for a scrum infringement to take the lead. The visitors then went further ahead when scrum half Ben Ley sneaked over early in the second half to make it 15-7.

Crymych battled their way back with their forwards in the shape of Collela, loose head Steffan Harries, hooker Lee Griffiths and tight head Ryan Rees making the hard yards along with replacements in the shape of Aled Harries, Llew Rees and Gethin Davies

This allowed scrum half Dafydd Phillips to set his back line off despite the heavy conditions underfoot and sustained period of pressure eventually paid off when Collela bagged his second try which was upgraded by Phillips and it was game on.

Phillips added a second penalty to give his team a three point lead at 17-15 before White slotted over his second penalty just a few minutes later to regain the initiative.

With the large crowd looking anxiously at their watches and the visitors leading by a single point Phillips was handed a golden opportunity to win the game with a late penalty and he duly obliged with a kick that sent the Crymych faithful home happy.

Next up for Crymych is a trip to Llanelli Wanderers a week on Saturday.