Lampeter 22 Waunarlwydd 27

Admiral National League 1 West

(Report: Lampeter RFC)

LAMPETER welcomed their distant rivals from the Swansea area of Waunarlwydd to North Road for the first time in decades.

Unsure of each other’s capabilities both sets of players gazed across the pitch at each other's match preparation.

Pre game, a minute’s silence of respect was observed for past club captain Glyn Rees along with great supporter and president Islwyn Williams who both sadly passed away recently.

Within five minutes of the initial whistle the home side knew they were in for a battle as a poor exit led to numerous Waun forward carries leading to a well worked score under the sticks for Outside Half H Lloyd ably converted by his Half Back partner J Matuschke.

Soon after Matuschke himself benefited from a dominant Waun scrum opening up a massive blindside which he gratefully ran down unapposed scoring gleefully in the corner, rubbing salt into the gaping Lampeter wounds the spritely scrum half converted from the touchline making the scoreboard read fourteen points to nil to the visitors.

Staring down the barrell of a gun The Maroons tore back into their opponents with charges from Number 8 Brynmor Jones, fellow back rower Ivan John along with Captain Ryan Kelachandra.

Gaining territory along with a touch of go forward Lampeter spurned a points opportunity at kickable range only to kick to the corner resulting in turnover ball releiving the visitors pressure.

With a back three who should still be playing Youth rugby under the old WRU Pathway, Lampeter defended high balls and wide attacks very well and one did sense a slight shift in momentum as the half wore on as indeed up popped Lock Harry Holder to show a clean pair of heels to the visitors running in a try from some fifty metres after breaking the close to the breakdown defence.

At haf time the scoreline of 5-14 glossed over the dominance of the Swansea side yet offered that glmmer of hope to the Maroons.

The glimmer grew to real hope immediately from restart as fellow Lock Teifi Spooner got in on the action charging down a lazy clearance kick from number 9 Matuschke to score under the posts with the extras added by Lampeter's quality fly half Osian Jones.

Spooner himself another who should still be in Youth rugby was delighted to claim his first score for the 1st XV.

Soon after Lampeter received another lifeline as impressive Matuschke completed his turn from hero to zero by receiving a yellow card from match official Joseff Rees who had a fantastic game officiating contributing to a great game of rugby.

A minute's silence was held in memory of Glyn Rees, a former captain of the club, and Islwyn Williams, a former president and loyal supporter of the club
A minute's silence was held in memory of Glyn Rees, a former captain of the club, and Islwyn Williams, a former president and loyal supporter of the club (Lampeter RFC)

Sensing they had to score with their tails up Left Wing Immannuel Ologun received a bullet pass from full back Rhun Davies to race clear of his opposite number blasting away the covering defence in a hugely popular score for the young man.

Confirming the comeback status Jones added the extra points from the touchline to Lampeter up 19-14 with their tails well and truly up.

As Waun wobbled Lampeter again charged upfield with neat offloads only for Scrum Half Matt Evans to lose control of the grounding over line to break the hearts of the large balcony support.

Lampeter started to gain a foothold and dominance swayed with the introduction of Number 8 Garth Isaacs hitting hard and tackling well putting last Saturday's performance behind him bouncing would be tacklers to earn a penalty which Jones slotted with aplomb.

This however was the end of the Lampeter points scoring flurry as momentum swayed back the the Swansea outfit in the last quarter with the home lineouts spluttering and backline tiring in the October Indian Summer’s Day.

Carrying hard into the stubborn home defence the visitors found space scoring out wide much to the disappointment of the Maroons.

Soon after in the dying moments of the game Waun took the opportunity of three points to tie the scores at 22 apiece.

Deep into injury time with Lampeter attacking inside the Waun half, lineout woes once again enabled the visitors to throw caution to the wind as the spread the ball straightening the line in the centre catching the covering defence out.

Several phases later on the last play of the game replacement winger for Waunarlwydd broke Lampeter hearts as he crossed in the corner sending the visiting supporters into ecstasy contrasted with the agony etched onto the home side.

A stunned silence ensued as both sides clapped each other acknowledging they had played their parts in one hell of a contest.

Picking up a losing bonus point was scant consolation for coach Hugh Gustaffson but he did say he was "proud of the fightback by the young side who are going have to be fast-tracked on the train of learning from hard knocks and this was one of them."

Travelling to Felinfoel next Saturday will be just as tough even though Lampeter's away record currently stands unbeaten in the league thus far which will encourage the players before the Llanelli trip.