LLANDOVERY 9 EBBW VALE 15 Principality Premiership Llandovery’s very poor start to the season continued at Church Bank when they went down to their seventh straight defeat in seven league games, writes Huw S Thomas.

For the third consecutive week, Llandovery had the lion’s share of play but once again had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point when four points were within their grasp.

It ended a bad week for the Drovers following the departure of director of rugby Roy James, who resigned following the string of early season defeats.

Winning coach Matthew McCarthy sympathised with the Drovers whilst also praising his own side’s resilient defence.

“We are delighted with the hardest of hard fought wins. Llandovery threw everything at us. We had to soak up some tremendous pressure on our line but we refused to buckle in the heat of battle,” said McCarthy.

Opposite number Rob Appleyard refused to be pessimistic despite the club’s worst start to a season for 20 years.

“We must be doing something right to keep making so many chances. “ said Appleyard.

“The problem is with our finishing but if we can get that right, then we can start getting some important wins.”

The Steelemen won because of some massive commitment in defence and their ability to take chances.

They trailed 9-0 to three penalties by new Llandovery fly-half Dan Ettridge before wing James Lewis showed his class with a slashing break and swerve to get a try completely against the run of play.

Centre Aaron Bramwell made it 9-8 soon after the interval with a very good penalty before disaster struck the Drovers.

A long miss out pass from No 8 Ioan Cunningham was intercepted by replacement fly-half David Langdon who ran in between the posts from 50 yards, Bramwell converting.

There was still 20 minutes to go and such was the advantage that the Drovers enjoyed in both possession and territory that the odds were still on a home victory.

Lloyd Phillips, who had gone on after 22 minutes following an injury to Andy Llewellyn, was the outstanding Llandovery forward in a pack that kept pounding away with a series of close range attacks.

Handling errors and poor options at crucial moments were again a blight on the home effort and Llandovery remain firmly rooted at the bottom of the table on just three points with a quarter of the season gone.

The Drovers travel to Bedwas this Saturday and will be looking to beat a side that is only two places above them in the Premiership table