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05 September 2018 / Club News

Good start for the First XV

The First XV kick started their season at home with a solid 26-0 win against Wattstown on Saturday. The scoreline you would think meant this was a once sided affair but that couldn’t be further from the truth as the Llantonians were made to battle hard for this ultimately deserved win. The home side spending most of the first half on the back foot as the hard men from the Rhondda through everything at their opponents with their powerful backs and forwards combining well to make big gains in territory only to be thwarted by an impressive home defensive line which when even camped for long periods on their own try line wouldn’t yield.

The break through for Llantwit coming at the half hour mark from a rare venture into the Wattstown half as scrum-half Rhys Balmont made a scintillating break from inside his own 22 as he weaved through the grasping arms of defenders before stretching his legs down the tramlines before eventually being hauled down just outside the opposition 22. The ball though was quickly recycled by the supporting pack and two short phases later number eight Stuart Edbrooke broke the first line of defence only to be grounded by the cover defence but quick ball saw the front row union combine for five points as captain Geraint David and his fellow prop Dave Taylor showed good hands as the big man Taylor rampaged over at the School End. Outside-half Laurence Howley adding the two point conversion for a great breakaway try which was mighty relief to the big home crowd such was the period time their team had been under the cosh.
As expected the Wattstown men though straight from the restart  again started putting Llantwit under pressure again and only a couple of last ditch tackles kept them out before and cruelly for the visitors Llantwit finished the half with fourteen points. The second try coming from some good work from centre Josh Austin who first put in a big hit to stifle a Wattstown break just shy of the half way line before quickly as he got his feet seizing on a bouncing loose ball to leave the defence standing as he jinked his way towards the 22 and some good support play eventually gave live wire scrum-half Balmont enough space to race over. Howley again adding the two points.
The second half mirrored the first as the visitors battled and battled to fight their way back into the game but the Llantonian defence just wouldn’t budge and slowly the home side began to control the game and after making a couple of surges to the Clubhouse End a ruck on the try line gave replacement prop Damian Ponting enough space to show his strength as he picked and wrestled over. Another fine kick from Howley giving the home side a twenty one point lead.
With both teams making several changes the last quarter really opened up with the fresh legs as some great facets of play were put together to entertain the crowd. And it was really end to end stuff as Llantwit went in hunt of the bonus point try and Wattstown looked for some thoroughly deserved consolation points.
It was though Llantwit who grabbed the last points on offer as wing Evan Holloway raced over in the top corner after a nice set of plays and good handling between forwards and backs. 
A fine start to the season for the Llantonians then in taking all the points on offer but also because this was a good team in Wattstown who on another day could have run the home side closer and will be a force to be recognised back on their own patch in the darker days of December.
The team would like to thank the big crowd comfortably four hundred in number who supported the them. It was a big day at the club as they supported the Major Pride event in hosting a dog show earlier in the day with the team wore rainbow laces during the game.
The club would like to congratulate Major Pride on a spectacular event with the town rocking well into the night.
The blood and blacks are on the road now for a fortnight as they first face Old Penarthians RFC in the league before returning the following weekend and crossing the road to take on Penarth RFC in the cup, both games will kick off at 2:30pm.

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