Fixture

Wow what a game last night!!! We traveled up to Abertilery, which took about two hours traveling. It was a typical cold winters night to watch Laugharne play Whiteheads in the cup. We played under floodlights.

We kicked off at about 7:30 having had a minutes silence for one of their supporters who sadly passed away in the week. Whitehead looked a formidable side and it would take a while before we could break them down. They tried in vain to slow our ball down in the breakdowns, committing numerous offences, lying on the ball and constantly offside, but in fairness to the ref he was able to penalise them on a number of occasions. Unfortunately Saint Jameson was unable to kick the penalties over and his Saint status was beginning to be questioned!!! 

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There was some brutal rugby being played and even though the pitch lent itself to open play, it was a dogged affair and after 35 minutes they opened up the scoring with a try and conversion. They were now seven points the better and we were still trying to wear them down with constant attacking on both the wings, up the middle and anywhere else the chance arose. The game was being played at a hell of a pace and there were big hits going in on both sides, Unfortunately Captain magnificent, Reese Thomas popped a rib in the early stages of the first half and Ben Lloyd (who fooled everyone with his retirement claim), came on as his replacement. Ben got stuck in straightaway, we were beginning to turn up the heat and with half-time looming we were pressurising them in their 22. and from the break down the ball popped out to Owain and he made a little break in the centre of the field and eventually offloaded to Mikey who went over for an awesome try. Jameson regained his Saint status by slotting over the conversion to make a halftime score of seven points apiece.

The second half started and our boys were beginning to run the show you could see that the first half Had been an all out effort on Whiteheads part and with our pack beginning to get the upper hand we were pretty soon knocking on their door for another try. We were five yards out and our pack stuck in, just right of the posts. With flood lights blaring down on the scrum and steam vapour being sent into the cold night sky, it was dramatic stuff. They were unable to handle the pressure of our pack and they were penalised on five occasions, loosing a prop to a yellow card to boot. The referee finally had enough and awarded a penalty try to us and we were now seven points clear. This obviously had an affect on both teams, Whiteheads were looking tired, whilst we were gaining in confidence the pack was performing really well and we were attacking them constantly making big hits. Carl Smith and Dai Thomas making great ground crashing through tackles and the boys were always able to support them, to pull off some nice moves midfield, throwing the ball about the immense pitch. In the in the lineouts Tomos Rhys was winning not only our line outs, but also the oppositions (it was like taking candy from a baby), on occasion he wasn't even needing to be lifted. Everyone of the Laugharne players were giving 100% and it was difficult to decide on a star player because they were all tremendous in their efforts. Mikey was like an eel on steroids sliding his way through the Whitehead defence knocking players over making good ground then some lovely short passes with players on each shoulder. Owain was again tremendous in defence and with a unsuspecting counter attack from Whithead, belted back across field to make a try saving tackle and win us back the ball, due to the ball going forward from the tackled player. It was only fitting that he would have the last try, in the last quarter of the game. Saint Jameson duly slotted over the conversion and the Laugharne crowd went wild!!!! Final score was 28 points to 7 to us!! Next round Tumble away.

Thanks to the players for a brilliant game, the team management for their hard work. Louise for looking after the boys, George and Julie for the teams sandwiches and refreshments, Julie and Sylvia for the stats, the sponsors for their constant support and our supporters for being there in body and soul. Photos courtesy of Twiggy.

Written by Richard Griffiths.