CARMARTHEN Warriors won the Aberaeron Sevens for the fifth time in seven years when they beat the Daionic Crusaders 17-7 in a very closely fought and entertaining final, writes Huw S Thomas.

It brought a fitting end to seven hours of rugby at Parc Drefech one of the most picturesque grounds in Wales overlooking the sparkling waters of Cardigan Bay.

Sparkling too was the performance of S4C weather girl Yvonne Evans – daughter of club secretary Glyndwr Evans – who hugely added to the occasion by giving the bumper crowd a non-stop and often humorous running commentary over the tannoy on what was happening both on and off the field of play.

The Warriors and Crusaders met in an early pool game which ended in a 19-19 draw and both went on to win all their other games in the pool without too much difficulty.

Nantgaredig proved the surprise packet of the day in heading their pool thanks to outstanding contributions from skipper Rhydian Harries, Carwyn Thomas, Dafydd Lewis and Lloyd Williams but could not match the teamwork of the Crusaders – the old boys of Ysgol Y Preseli in the first of the semi finals.

Scrum half Tomi Jones was the inspiration behind the slickness of the Crymych boys who won 26-5 through tries from Gareth Owens, Nick Bevan, Dafydd Williams and Jones himself.

The Warriors met their first big challenge of the days in a physical, committed Bargoed side, well led by wing Lee Pearson.

Tries from Adam Coup and Luke Morgan against a Warriors effort from Andrew Jones had Bargoed 12-7 up at the break and it took some real quality play from the Carmarthen side to fashion tries for Gareth James and Wayne Price to go through to the final 21-12.

When speedsters Andrew Jones and Jason Howells got the Warriors a 12-0 interval lead in the final it looked black for the Crusaders but a wonderful effort from the irrepressible Tomi Jones got them right back in the game and they twice came desperately close to tries.

But it was the Warriors that delivered the killer blow when the influential James twice appeared in a sweeping movement that ended with veteran Gareth Bennett crashing over to settle the issue.

The Warriors reserve side the Flamingoes got tries from Dyfed Morgan, Aaron Shakeshift and Rhys Evans in the Plate final but went down 24-19 to the Baa Baas – a selection of Penallta, Bargoed and Senghenydd players.

Local sides Aberaeron and Aberystwyth failed to make an impact although their pool battle produced plenty of excitement.

Owen Williams and Dyfrig Daives crossed for the host club but Aberystwyth had that extra bit of pace to clinch victory with two tries from Ifan Thomas and one each for Carwyn Evans and Steffan Nutting.

Results

Semi final: Warriors 21 Bargoed 12; Crusaders 26 Nantgaredig 5

Final Warriors 17 Crusaders 7

Plate final: Baa Baas 26 Flamingoes 21