Their 24-18 came despite a furious final 10 minutes from the home side as they battled to save their unbeaten record. In the end, they got close, but not close enough to take anything other than a losing bonus point out of a rousing contest.
Aberavon drew first blood when a tap penalty from scrum half Rhodri Cole made enough space for supporting flanker Ashton Evans to crash through. Dan Edwards added the conversion.
Despite struggling at scrum time, the Drovers were solid enough to hit back when a well worked move behind the scrum sent left wing Aaron Warren haring home. Edwards was wide with a 30 metre penalty before home wing Frankie Jones was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on.
Llandovery turned down three points with a kick to the corner and it brought profit when a patient build-up from the line out ended with hooker Dafydd Hughes going over near enough for James Garland to convert for a 12-7 interval lead.
A 40 metre Edwards penalty reduced the leeway and then his replacement Aled Thomas regained the lead at 13-12 with an angled penalty. The lead was quickly lost, though, when a great break by Llandovery centre Rhodri Jones sent scrum half Lee Rees in for a converted try.
There was nothing between two excellent sides and a sweeping Llandovery move gave replacement wing Callum Williams the bonus point try. Replacement Sam Pailor grabbed a try to bring the Wizards back to within six points but in a grandstand finish, the Drovers defended a wave of attacks to secure a fine away win.
A clinical final 20 minutes was enough to see Swansea home to an impressive 35-17 bonus-point victory over Bridgend at the Brewery Field. They led 13-10 at the break, put pushed on in the second half to leave with a full-house of five points.
After Matthew Jones and Liam Popham had exchanged early penalties Harvey Nash powered over for the first try of the game to give Bridgend the lead. A charge down by Connor Tantum paved the way for Swansea’s first try, from lock Huw Sutton, and Popham added the simple extras from in front of the posts.
Bridgend hit back with a penalty try from a driving maul, but Popham’s second penalty just before the break meant Swansea went into the interval with a three point advantage. In the second half they took firm control and went on to add three more tires through Tantum (2) and Joe Carrington.
Llanelli got within a whisker of their first win of the season as they fought back against Carmarthen Quins to score four tries and pick up two points in a 27-24 home defeat. Steff Hughes gave them the perfect start with a try after only two minutes and Josh Phillips got another as they went into the break 10 points in arrears at 24-14.
Ryan Davies and Josh Phillips added second half tries, but they weren’t enough to overhaul the first-half advantage created for the Quins by tries from Javan Sebastian, Rhys Lawrence and Rhodri Davies. Jac Wilson converted all three and added a penalty in each half.
