MIXED FORTUNES FOR CARDI’S

Division 3 west A round up

Cardigan go down fighting, Aeron too good for Tregaron

Haverfordwest 17 Cardigan 10

Cardigan produced a gritty performance before they were eventually undone by a Blues side that are on the up and one of the candidates for promotion this season along with Milford Haven.

Both sides tried to spin the ball about in the heavy and very slippery conditions and it was the Ceredigion side who opened the scoring when fly half half Sion Edwards sliced through the home defence for an excellent try which was converted by skipper and full back John Lumb .

The hosts gradually made inroads with the likes of prop Terry Lovell and number eight Mathew Phillips making the hard yards and this produced some quick ball for half backs Lee Summons and Mike Jones and a try soon followed when Jones crossed the whitewash. Centre Craig Barnett added the extras to level the scores.

Cardigan hit back with a penalty from Lumb before Barnett responded with a three pointer but the visitors did well to hang on to a share of the spoils at the break as Haverfordwest pushed hard. The Cardi’s defended resiliently through the likes of Tom Taylor, Gruff Lewis, Sion Phillips, Will Bryce, Ben Hughes and Dean Harries and went in at the break with plenty of optimism.

The game deteriorated in the second half as the weather conditions made life very difficult and scoring opportunities were limited with the ball going to ground and frustrating the home team in particular as they looked to kill the game off. Cardigan though were very dogged and managed to restrict the Pembrokeshire outfit to just a single try scored by back rower Phillips which was converted by Jones.

Lumb added a second penalty for the visitors to reduce the gap to just seven points and the visitors returned with a losing bonus point which was just reward for a hard working performance against a decent Blues outfit who now lead the table by three points.

Cardigan coach Colin Davies saluted the never say die attitude of his players who he said had put in a  big shift collectively especially in defence and commented:” Yes this was a spirited effort from all the boys and we fully deserved our losing bonus point.

“Obviously it was not the result we wanted but it nevertheless was a very good defensive performance from everyone in what were very tough wet and windy conditions.”

Aberaeron 31 Tregaron 0

Aberaeron claimed the bragging rights in the Ceredigion derby match at Parc Drefach but they were forced to work very hard to gain the ascendency until they eventually pulled away in the final quarter.

The early pressure as expected came from the home side and they were rewarded with a try by full back Morgan Llewelyn following an excellent period of interplay. The conversion by Rhodri Jenkins was the first of five successes in the first period, the others being penalties and all from long range and wide out.

The seasiders went close on several occasions with centre Ollie Sawyer and full back Llewellyn held up but with a 19 point advantage after the break, the result was never in doubt and the margin was increased when Dafydd Llewelyn picked up his fifth try of the season. Jenkins upgraded this excellent try to put his team almost out of sight at 26-0.

Home flanker Aaron Lewis added to this with a try in the corner after a long period of pressure on the visitors line with Gethin Hughes and props Danton and Wozencraft also going close but with the clock ticking down it was Tregaron who looked the more determined as the hosts took their foot off the gas.

Aberaeron though eventually completed their fifth league win of the campaign and remain in fifth position just of off the chasing pack.