News

The senior teams had a good weekend on the road as both teams won away in their respective cup and league games. The First XV winning 0-42 at Hirwaun and The Druids winning 32-24.

The First XV made the long trip to the Heads of the Valleys to take on the Hirwaun Broncos in the second round of the WRU National Bowl cup competition and came away with not only a place in the third round but arguably their best performance of the season so far; not so much in winning by such a large margin but more in not allowing Hirwaun any opportunities to score such was their control of the game and their outstanding defence effort right up to the final whistle.
Hirwaun had a big pack and two huge centres who they used tirelessly throughout to attempt to breakdown the visitors line, but Llantwit would not yield, with Man of the Match Donovan Stoppel to the fore in these exchanges by literally putting his body on the line for the cause.
And when they weren’t defending Llantwit they then took every opportunity to spread the ball wide and attack on what was a boggy surface and certainly not conducive to open play.
Llantwit’s tries were all scored by their impressive back line with outside half Josh Austin picking up the first score after a great interception by Number eight Rob Carter allowed a great counter attack.
The next two tries came in quick succession as Rhys Balmont and Wise Vakacegu finished off fine moves to take Llantwit into the break with a comfortable 0-25 lead.
The second half though became a hard slog as to their credit Hirwaun battled back into the game and set about disrupting the visitors play in every which way they could legally or illegally such was their internet on stopping what was becoming an onslaught.
The dour affair only given respite in the last quarter as Llantwit once again stretched their legs as Rhys Balmont cantered over for his second try before a spot of individual brilliance by Austin saw him race through a tight defence to round off what was a great game for the number ten.
The rest of the points came from the boot of fullback Chris Jones who provided an assured kicking performance.
This week the team though have a much sterner challenge ahead of them as they once again head north as they visit table topping Treherbert at the top of the Rhondda Valley in the league. The Devils as they are proudly known are unbeaten so far in the league and have been amassing some big wins to put themselves at the top of the league standings. There will once again be a bus travelling to the game which supporters are welcome to join the team upon. Kick off is at 2:30pm with the bus leaving the Clubhouse at 12:00 noon.
The Druids rounded off a good day for the club when they travelled to Cefn Cribwr and themselves put in a great performance scoring four tries, with Man of the Match Damian Gardner-Ponting helping himself to a hat-trick, with Lee Wood picking up the fourth. The rest of the points once again coming from the boot of Dan Powell.
This week The Druids return home as they welcome Heol y Cyw to the Recreation Ground, kick off also at 2:30pm.

A.H. & S.H.