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NEWCASTLE EMLYN 36 PENCLAWDD 7   

On a damp afternoon at Dol Wiber Newcastle Emlyn continued with their unbeaten start to the season with a five try demolition of visiting Penclawdd. Even though conditions were very slippery, the ball was moved through the hands on numerous occasions to serve up a feast of running rugby for the large crowd of supporters. Emlyn were dominant in most aspects of the game, especially in the set plays.

The first try came as a result of this dominance when the home team were awarded a lineout near the opponent’s 22. The ball was palmed back to scrum-half Mike Jones who darted through some would be tacklers and although he was stopped near the line, quick recycling gave flanker and man of the match Elliot Rees the opportunity to barge over under the posts. Full-back Shaun Leonard converted.

Some five minutes later excellent referee John Hardy penalised the Penclawdd scrum for standing up following great front row pressure by the home props of Emrys Davies and Lewys Jonathan. Leonard put the ball into the corner. Emlyn’s catch and drive has improved immensely this season and this game showed again what a force the forwards are. Captain and hooker Alex Williams threw in, before joining the back of the maul to collect the ball and pile over for the next score. 

Most of the game was one-way traffic and it was not until late in the second-half that the visiting team even entered the homesters 22. The red and whites defended in numbers and good tackles were seen throughout by locks Chris Ludgate and Osian Davies. A further indiscretion by Penclawdd under the posts allowed Leonard to slot over an easy penalty kick.

Halftime score 15-0.

The second-half continued in much the same vein with Emlyn dominance in the forwards giving their backs a cushioned ride. Penclawdd were desperate to put some points on the board and attempted to attack from all areas of the field. However with the Emlyn defence in such fine form there was no way through and following a knock-on in midfield the ball landed with Leonard who glided through the visiting defence and score under the posts. He converted his own try.

The next score was a carbon copy of the first half with Williams collecting his own throw from a driving maul and going over from 5 yards. The try bonus point was no more than the homesters deserved.

With some 10 minutes remaining the visitors got on the scoreboard when some neat footwork by their outside half saw him dart passed a couple of defenders to score wide out. 

The best score of the game was left to the final minute when from a scrum the ball was moved out to outside half Sion Edwards, in a pre-planned move which involved two dummy runners, allowing him to accelerate through a gap in the defensive line, before passing inside to his supporting players and replacement scrum half Dafydd Evans completed the move with a try converted by Leonard.

With a bonus point win Emlyn move to top of the table.

Next week is the second round  of the WRU Plate with another home game  versus Nantgaredig 2-30 p.m. kick off. This promises to be quite a tussle with Nangaredig a fast improving side who were unbeaten in the League last season and also reached the semi-final of the WRU Bowl. The Towy Valley side are noted for their fluent attacking style of running rugby and have a large band of enthusiastic supporters. It promises to be quite an afternoon at Dol Wiber