Division One West

Ammanford Whitland

Ammanford once more presented spectators with an excellent game of open running rugby, but defensive lapses again meant they were on the wrong side of the score.

Opening strongly against visitors Whitland, Ammanford soon found themselves in a 14-3 lead thanks to a well worked try for centre Tom Rees followed up by an opportunist charge down by fellow centre James Turrell on his first full game for Ammanford.

Both tries were converted by outside half Rhydian Morris.

Ammanford had two great opportunities to extend their lead but a penalty from Morris bounced up off the cross-bar and came back down on the wrong side and they also blew a try scoring chance in the corner.

Ammanford were in full control at this stage but the managed to shoot themselves in the foot when trying to counter from a Whitland clearance kick. Two long passes on the halfway line saw the second pass intercepted by the visiting winger who ran through unopposed under the sticks for a converted try.

Directly from the kick off a missed tackle in midfield saw Whitland again break clear to score and within two minutes Ammanford found themselves 14-17 down.

Whitland extended their lead with a penalty before Ammanford rallied just before the half and skipper Emyr Price powered over in the corner. An excellent touchline conversion from Morris saw the interval score at 21-20 after a half in which there had only been two scrums.

Unfortunately, Ammanford lost strong running centre Tom Rees at half time with a dead leg, but this did not stop the home team regaining the lead early in the second half, but their Achilles heel soon returned and some weak tackling from a clearnce kick saw Whitland regain the lead.

This was followed by a try from a wheeled scrum.

Trailing 33-21 with a quarter of the game left, the hosts went back onto the front foot and full-back Chris Moore scored. A fine conversion brought Ammanford back to within two points.

The home side lost even the loosing bonus point after yet another weak kick-and-chase chase saw the visitors break through to take the final score to 31-40.