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A large crowd swelled by the fine weather were treated to a great game of attacking rugby with eight tries scored as Llantwit beat Wattstown from the Rhondda Valley 33-23 in this third versus fourth league fixture at the Recreation Ground.

'Llantwit who have been guilty of being slow out of the blocks on many occasions this season were quickly into their stride as virtually from the kick off they had their first score. Playing towards the School End they got into some dominant field position and by first taking the Wattstown defence across the field to the road side before quickly switching the attack back across the field where open side flanker Dan Bawden found himself in acres of space and charged towards the try line he then off-loaded to Josh Austin who had a two on one with the defensive fullback and coolly drew the opponent before releasing veteran wing David Liscombe to finish off a fine try; which Austin then followed it up with a touchline conversion. The home side then spoilt their solid start by allowing Wattstown back into the game firstly by conceding a penalty and then a converted try as the visitors used a good driving maul from a line out to release their hard running centres who exposed some powder puff defence in the back line to go over at the Clubhouse End.
However the Llantonians were soon back down at the School End hunting for another try as several players took turns to get over the try line before centre Wise Vakacegu took it upon himself to scramble over, the try again converted by Austin. However the visitors soon replied themselves with another penalty. Llantwit though had the last word before the break as replacement number eight Rob Carter charged over for an unconverted try the first half ending at 19-13.
The second half soon saw Llantwit start using their three quarters as a lovely set piece move had put Man of the Match Luke Dawes in space but as he kicked the ball through which he surely was going to recover he was cruelly denied as a late tackle brought him down, causing the offender to receive ten minutes in the bin.
Llantwit soon took advantage of their numerical supremacy by spreading the ball wide every time they had opportunity and were rewarded with a further two tries either side of a Wattstown penalty. The first try coming as Austin broke the defence and first bumped off a covering tackle to release Vakacegu for his second try as he raced away to score in the top corner. The second was built up by another break this time from inside their own half with a succession of passes between the three quarters again put Vakacegu in space but this time the covering defence were wise to his pace and hauled him down yards from the line, only to see him pop up a pass which the old war horse second row Shaun Shea grabbed hold of and cantered over showing great fitness and support play; but any celebration was cut short as his surge for the line had caused a hamstring pull and was soon substituted.
With the game in control it was naturally time for Llantwit to implode as they had two yellow cards themselves in quick succession for a deliberate knock on by Vakacegu and some hand bags by Rhys Dixon. This allowed the visitors to claw themselves back into the game and they crossed again for a converted try from another driving maul. This led to a nervy last fifteen minutes but Llantwit admirably defended their lead and held out with some good scrummaging and plenty of big hits being put in across the park with both wingers Liscombe and Tinus Coetzer to the fore in these exchanges.
Another matter that unfortunately needs addressing from the match is the increasing amount of abuse the referee was receiving from the home supporters during the game, and yes the sizeable Wattstown supporters were just as vocal, but Llantwit need to get their own house in order. The rugby club has a policy of respecting opponents and officials at all times and will not tolerate either players, coaching staff or supporters from such misbehaviour. The official has a difficult enough task as it is without being constantly receiving verbal abuse from the sidelines and in doing so spectators are not supporting the team. Hopefully this will be the end of incidences of this nature otherwise the club will look at taking further action against offenders.
Returning to the action upon the field this was another good performance by the Llantonians who are clearly enjoying their rugby as the grounds harden, next up they take the long trip across Llandow as they take on Cowbridge, and that fixture needs no further explanation, kick off is at 2:30pm. The team bus will be leaving the Clubhouse at 12:30pm if any supporters would like to travel with the team then they are warmly welcome, to book a place please contact Michael ‘Taff’ Edwards 07747 706387.