Fixture

With a worryingly squad of 17 available for the visit to Canton people would have been excused having concerns beforehand that the result may have been different, but in perfect conditions on an almost perfect playing surface the 17 Llantwit players who made themselves available did what was asked of them and delivered on nearly all aspects that they work on in training.

For the second week running the team started with a bang and played with attacking intent and an early scrum against the head allowed the ball to be recycled and found its way out to Marcus Pearce kicked ahead and chased but last ditch defence allowed Canton to clear their lines. The small number of regular travelling supporters didn’t have to wait long for the first score. With ball in hand Llantwit made a break and the ball made its way to Wasai Vackegu (otherwise known as Wise or Dave to some) found his dancing feet and beet a number of defenders to cross over under the posts for a try that was converted by the ever reliable Ryan Evans. Soon after the restart Llantwit secured the ball, recycled it to Steffan Price who made the cleanest of breaks to off load again to Wise who scampered over for his second try again that was converted by Ryan Evans.

Lapses of concentration let Llantwit down again and they were extremely lucky that a penalty was not converted but needless back chat on two occasions saw the extra metres being given and this must be cut out because against other teams they will punish you. Going into the second quarter you there was possibly an air of history repeating itself with a number of handling errors and wrong options being taken when all that was really required was patience.

When they found the patience the game flowed better for Llantwit and from pressure at the scrum the ball was turned over and passed on to left wing and captain Marcus Pearce who ran in from 40 metres under the posts which was again converted by Ryan Evans. With Canton pressing deep into Llantwit’s 22 Blaine Thomas rose and stole the ball and the ensuing maul was encroached by the home side and Llantwit cleared to the half way line. However, they lost the resultant throw and conceded a penalty and then an additional 10 metres through inexcusable backchat. Try as they might Canton found it difficult to get out of their own half and this was epitomized by the smallest man on Llantwits team Rhys Balmont who put a brave tackle in to the strains of Men of Harlech from the Cardiff City Stadium. Needless penalties stopped Llantwit getting their hands on the ball and allowed Canton to get into an attacking position and a mix up with the Llantwit Scrum allowed the livewire Canton scrum half (who ran straighter lines than he did feeding the ball into the scrum) to cross unopposed for a converted try to leave the score 21-7 to Llantwit Major.

With patience and seemingly confidence restored right on the stroke of half time Spencer Sutton found himself with ball in hand just inside Cantons half and after setting off at a gallop thought quickly and chipped ahead beautifully for the ball to pop up into Chris Fowlers hands to let him cross for a try that was converted for a half time lead of 28-7 but more importantly for the team the bonus point had been secured before half time.

Such is the professionalism of the Llantwit unit you would have been forgiven at half time if you thought the team was losing because the vocal team talk was quite clear that the job was not done and we did not want a repeat of the previous week. It appeared to work and Llantwit again started with a bang and soon found themselves camped on the canton line and after seemingly getting over the referee awarded the ball was held up.  From the resultant scrum Dan Farrel picked up from scrum and made hard yards through strong running allowing a good platform to be created that saw Gareth Watts recycle the ball and crash over for try number 5 which was again converted by Ryan Evans.

The first 10 minutes of the second half continued to be end to end in play but staunch defence from Llantwit saw them turn ball over time and clear their lines. And on one occasion some good foot work from Rhys Balmont made good yards before passing the ball on only for the resultant 2 on 1 be buthchered. It wasn’t long before the next try game and it gave Wise his third try and Ryan Evans 6^th successful conversion.

Canton then produced their best passage of play that saw wave after wave of attack but last ditch defence from Llantwit and a solid scrum with Geraint David, Spencer Sutton and Neil Woodward combing well in the front row locked in my emergency second row Tony Jenkins (who acquitted himself well in the uncustomary role) and Dan Daw allowed the back row to secure the ball and from a move that was straight off the training park and quite possibly one of the best tries witnessed for a long time Marcus Pearce cut the right angle at the time that saw the defence totally wrong footed and a clear run over the line for his second and Llnatwit’s 7^th try of the afternoon that was converted by Ryan Evans to give him 100% for the afternoon. With the two subs on the bench the coaching staff gave them their time with Rob Grapes replacing Ryan Evans and Tony Burrows for Neil Woodward. Special mention and congratulation must be said to Tony Burrows who recently became a grandfather and we are not sure whether he may be the first “Grampa” to take the field in a Llantwit shirt.

With a change in personnel the game didn’t change Llantwit stuck to their game plan and continued to execute with varying degrees of success luckily good tracking back by the defence saw the Canton scrum half bundled into touch and from the ensuing lineout with a two man overlap the pass was delayed too long and another try scoring opportunity was lost. Again strong running by Lee Wood saw him deep in the Canton half but slow support from Llantwit Major saw the ball turned over.

With the game already in the bag there was no let up from Llantwit and Blaine Thomas used his strength but was tackled short of the line that left him rather worse for wear but after a couple of minutes on the side he showed true character  and retook his place on the field when other players in his position may have made their excuses and stayed off the field. Blaine’s work rate around the field was immense and along with his back row colleague Gareth Watts were particularly destructive to the home sides efforts with Gareth making over 10 tackles during the game by far the biggest amount.

As with the first half right on the stroke of full time Llantwit managed again to grab an 8^th and final try through Marcus Pearce who crossed for his third under the posts giving Rob Grapes an easy conversion to get on the score sheet. To the relief of the home crowd the ref blew the final whistle on an confortable victory for Llantwit Major.

Credit to the home side they did not give up at all throughout the game and Canton will be a difficult prospect for many teams to go. However, Llantwit will face more difficult challenges through the season and they will need to cut out the silly mistakes and back chat and become even more ruthless. It was good to get the show on the road and get the tries and points early on in the season, this will be carried into the next game which will see Old Penarthians visit Llantwit. With two heavy defeats to their name Old Penarthians will come as a wounded animal and Llantwit will need to be at their best to ensure that they continue in the form showed against Canton. There is a long way to go in the season but it was pleasing to see a performance worthy of a side celebrating its 125^th year anniversary and long may it continue.