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Premiership Cup West round-up: Drovers maintain hoodoo over Swansea

Premiership Cup West round-up: Drovers maintain hoodoo over Swansea

Llandovery Head Coach Euros Evans.

Llandovery head coach Euros Evans hailed his side’s response to a poor start after an Ashley Evans brace helped them secure their 21st victory in a row over Swansea.

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Evans said: “We didn’t start very well in the first half. Our discipline was poor and we were unable to keep the ball for long periods which was really disappointing.

“The first try was satisfying though as it was something we worked on in training and it seemed to spark us into life as we never looked back from there.

“I thought we were fortunate to be ahead at half time and, although we had a wobble by giving away the interception try, we were able to control the game after that and fully deserved the victory.

“We now look forward to our local derby with Carmarthen in a fortnight which always provides us with a tough challenge.

“I was particularly pleased with young winger Callum Williams who was outstanding. It’s great to see the Premiership providing a platform for players like Callum to progress and develop.”

It was the home side who deservedly opened the scoring when Matt Dodd rose high to collect a line-out. The pack rumbled over the line for an Owen Thomas try.

In a key turning point, Thomas was sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes for a professional foul. Kristian Jones chipped up to the 22 with the penalty and a clever throw to the front by Craig Thomas saw Scott

Maynard race clear to score an opportunist away try. And it didn’t take the visitors long to grab a second try when Williams took a long pass out wide to beat his man for pace to score.

A third Llandovery try followed minutes later to leave the home side shellshocked.

The outstanding Williams showed a superb turn of pace on the wing and he fed Jones for a try he also converted.

With the Drovers mounting the first attack of the second half, Harri Houston intercepted a long Maynard pass and sprinted clear to score.

In a scrappy period of play, Swansea failed to deal with a loose ball in midfield which allowed the visitors to hack play upfield.

The Drovers kept their cool and got quick ball out wide for Evans to score the bonus-point try.

A long period of pressure by the Drovers almost saw Jones chip into the corner for Will Thomas to collect for a simple try. Try number six followed from Iwan Davies.

Swansea refused to give up and scored a third try through replacement scrum-half Ben Ley, but Evans had the final say when he ripped a ball out of a tackle to round off a clinical victory.

Carmarthen Quins put in a strong second-half performance to secure a 27-12 victory over Bridgend.

Craig Evans saw his team complete a Premiership double over the Ravens despite the hosts being two points down at the interval.

The first half saw a kicking show from Bridgend’s full-back Owen Howe as he booted two penalties after just 11 minutes.

Carmarthen reacted well five minutes later as winger Josh Davies scored a try which was converted by Jac Wilson.

With 10 minutes to go in the half, Howe kicked another penalty giving Bridgend a 9-7 lead. Both sides were even in the first half, but the visitors went into half time with the advantage.

Carmarthen started the second half the better side as Kemsley Mathias touched down for his second try against Bridgend this season. Wilson converted.

Howe was involved again as he kicked another penalty bringing Bridgend back to within three points.

Quins’ fly-half Wilson converted two penalties of his own to create an eight-point lead for the home side going into the last 10 minutes of play.

And if the result was in any doubt, Quins secured victory with two minutes to go with replacement Lewis Morgan going through to score his side’s third, the conversion kicked by Wilson.

Aberavon coach Jason Hyatt is getting plenty of chances to test the strength of his squad and the results so far have been pretty good. His team’s latest win was a 28-22 success away at Llanelli.

The Wizards may have had a slightly uncomfortable second half at Parc Y Scarlets, losing it 17-7 compared to a 21-5 winning first 40 minutes, but they were still good enough to go home with another bonus-point to stay one point clear of Llandovery at the top of the Premiership Cup West division.

“We always knew that after 18 months without any rugby there were going to be more injuries than usual. We’ve got a fair number of players ruled out at the moment, but we’re happy with our strength in depth,” said Hyatt.

“We believe we have at least two top class Premiership players in every position and we also have some good youngsters coming through like outside half Dan Edwards and hooker Cam Lewis. Going to Llanelli was always going to be a challenge for us, but we came through with five points in the end.”

A week after losing their unbeaten record at home to Llandovery, the Wizards started strongly and had secured their try bonus-point a minute into the second half. For Llanelli, it was another rearguard action that saw them score three second half tries and pick up two bonus-points in a narrow home defeat for the second weekend in a row.

They are still without a win, but if they can upset Bridgend in their next game on 5 November they could leapfrog the Ravens and finally move off the bottom.

Teenage outside half Dan Edwards gave the visitors a flying start as he cut through to score at the posts I the 11th minute. He also added the extras and then converted a second try from prop Geraint James seven minutes later.

That made it 14-0 and when scrum half Rhodri Cole scampered over for a third Aberavon try, which Edwards once again improved, the visitors were almost scoring at a point a minute.

Llanelli then finally got to grips with the power of the Aberavon pack and hooker Rhys Cherry threw them a lifeline with a try from close range on the stroke of half-time. Former Wales Sevens international Lloyd Evans then grabbed the bonus point try for the Wizard a minute after the re-start.

Edwards added a fourth conversion, but that was it from the visitors. Instead, Llanelli grew in confidence, moved the ball and bagged a further three tries to end on a high.

Scrum half Archie Hughes got the first, which Josh Phillips converted, Cherry picked up his second and prop Alex Jefferies went in for the bonus-point score 10 minutes from time.

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