St Clears 21 Aberaeron 16

Admiral National League 3 West A

Aberaeron succumbed to their second league defeat of the season away to an in-form Saints side who displayed their title credentials with a mix of clinical finishing and solid defence.

The hosts started at a canter, benefitting from a seven pointer, scored with barely a visiting hand having touched the ball. A 50-22 followed by a series of mauls and a penalty, resulted in a quick tap and finish from the home prop for a very early lead.

Aberaeron began to pick away at the lead as they grew into the game and a couple of Rhodri Jenkins penalties kept them in touching distance.

Somewhat unexpectedly they could have gone in ahead at the half, but a little over-exuberance in taking a quick tap with a kickable penalty available, meant that St Clears remained in the lead at the break.

Following the oranges, both sides continued in same vein with hard carries from Geth Jenkins and Kuba Poplonski coupled with plentiful line­out ball from Llyr Davies and Hefin Williams provided good possession.

Unfortunately for the visitors, a real purple patch from the home side, saw two well taken quickfire tries scored in the wide channels, both converted, with Aberaeron’s sole response another penalty for Rhodri Jenkins.

As the half wore on, Aberaeron’s regular forays into home territory were repelled effectively by the defence, and were left to wait until the final few minutes to cross the whitewash. After several tap and go penalties and a long series of phases, captain Morgan Llewelyn was on hand to crash over, with Jenkins’ conversion cementing at least a losing bonus point.

With one final play to go, Aberaeron spread the ball wide from the kick off and with what looked like a promising overlap opening up, an unfortunate knock on resulted in the final whistle and Aberaeron having to make the journey home with a solitary point.

The Seagulls will be keen to bounce back quickly, and are provided with a stern test again next week as they welcome local rivals, Lampeter for a local derby.

Laugharne 13 Lampeter Town 33

LAMPETER picked up a massive win ahead of the big local derby at Aberaeron on Saturday.

It was credit to their fitness and sharpness after a long month of stop/start rugby due to the Autumn Internationals, that they were able to produce a fine team performance to take a deserved win against a strong Laugharne outfit.

Meirion Lloyd, Ifan John Davies and Gethin Davies were the try scorers with Osian Jones kicking over three penalties to extend the Maroons’ unbeaten start to the campaign.