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08 May 2017 / Club News

First XV suffer heavy loss in final but keep their pride intact.

The First XV went down bravely in this entertaining East District final but nonetheless suffered a heavy lost as Dinas Powys showed their supremacy with a 59-26 win and added the cup to the Divison 2 title they had gained three days earlier. The game didn't start well for the Llantonians as Dinas raced into a 14-0 lead as both their centres capitalised on some poor receiving from the kick off and general defending by crossing for two converted tries within five minutes of the start. Llantwit did fight back and briefly brought some hope as some good line out ball on the Dinas 22 saw outside half Josh Austin make a lovely break and a nicely weighted pass to blindside flanker Gareth Watts allowed the big man to charge over, converted by Austin.
This though was to be a short lived recovery as straight from the kick off Llantwit failed again to receive the ball and Dinas again capitalised with their third converted try. Matters got worse for Llantwit as just as they were gaining some parity at the tackle area and were beginning to peg Dinas back, they lost powerful running running prop Damian Gardner-Ponting with a shoulder injury. The next action was again with their opponents as they crossed for another two tries before Rob Carter brought some respectability back with a try after some good interchanging running by both forwards and backs, converted again by Austin.
But as the half time whistle brought a halt to proceedings Dinas had already notched up a further two tries and the score was 45-14.  The second half was a completely different affair as Llantwit finally managed to gain some parity in the tackle area and for the first time in the game were putting Dinas under some pressure. But Dinas will start in Division 1 next season for a reason and the slightest error from the Llantonians would quickly be snapped upon and immediately put into attack and they were soon extending their lead with two more tries and with them any flicker of hope was certainly extinguished. Llantwit though to their credit wouldn't throw the towel in and managed to grind out two tries of their own before the end as both Dave Taylor and Luke Dawes crossed. Taylor's being a proper forwards try as he charged over from close quarters and Dawes being a real peach of a backs try as they showed some excellent handling at pace to put him over. Man of the Match was hard working loose-head prop Geraint David.
Llantwit can hold their heads high after all they were playing a team two divisions higher than them and they dug deep and gave their all but Dinas were just streets ahead of them, their speed and execution of play being the difference between the teams. They should be justly proud of their achievement of firstly getting to the final and secondly contributing to what was a thoroughly entertaining spectacle; especially as they are in the main a home grown team in what is a highly competitive tournament. Llantwit would like to wish Dinas good luck for next season and also wish to thank sponsor D. Liscombe Building Services Ltd. for their continued support this season. 
Next up for the Llantonians is their much anticipated end of season Dinner and Presentation Evening on Friday 19 May; with the Guest Speaker being British and Irish Lions Legend John Bentley. There are some tickets still available to purchase please contact Mazz on 07540 277652.

 

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