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Another fine performance by the Llantwit pack saw them rack up another bonus point victory last week as they beat Cefn Coed 38-13 rattling in six tries. The first quarter was a cagey affair as both teams set at each other at a high tempo, with the visitors playing towards the school end dominant in the early exchanges with Llantwit defending for the most part.

The game plan from Cefn Coed appeared to be to throw everything at the league leaders in an attempt to unsettle them. And with a big heavy pack they were asking plenty of questions of Llantwit’s resilience, coming close on several occasions to breaking through the defensive line. But the home side held together with some good defending with the Rhys flankers of David and Hewitt putting in some big hits. It was the visitors who were first on the score sheet with a penalty kick.
As the game went into the second quarter you could sense that Llantwit were just starting to edge proceedings and when ever they had a good platform outside half Loz Howley started turning the big visiting pack.
The first try being a good example as a tactical kick by Howley to the Cefn winger was badly returned with the ball bouncing loose and immediately seized upon by the effervescent centre Rhys Balmont who then linked well with lock Shaun Shea to keep the ball alive. Shea, possibly had a chance to stretch his legs but wisely thought of his age instead and tied up the covering tacklers. The ball quickly recycled out to centre Josh Austin who gave a nicely weighted pass to Howley who spotting the visitors defence in tatters, sliced through, like a knife through butter, to cross for a very entertaining try.
The next try was all about the big boys in the pack who caused Cefn problems all afternoon with such a powerful scrum it could have bump started a tractor. And it proved its worth as a series of scrum penalties in the visitors 22 left the match official with no option but to award a penalty try before the break and edge the home side ahead.
The second half started well for Llantwit as they extended their lead with wing Evan Holloway crossing out wide after some nice long passes by the Llantwit three-quarters stretched the opposition defence.
Llantwit were now hunting for the bonus point fourth try and it soon came with scrum half Steff Godwin taking great opportunity of playing behind a dominant pack to show and go and race over untouched.
It was not all one way traffic though as Cefn battled back scoring two well taken tries to keep the game honest and battled right to the end.
It was then left to the Llantwit centre partnership to have the final say as Josh Austin crossed after a brilliant piece of handling by the back line. Quickly followed by his partner Balmont who had too much pace as he seized on some turn over ball to cross and seal another fine performance by the Blood and Blacks.
Man of the Match was scrum half Steff ‘Pony’ Godwin whose crisp delivery was at the heart of most of the Llantwit attacking play. Further mention going to tight forward Jamie Lewis who had a solid game in the pack.
Llantwit can now enjoy their turkey on top of the league table, but the coaches have already warned there is still a long, long way to go with plenty of tough games still to come especially with the season so far being decimated by the weather.
And it doesn’t come much tougher than the next game, the Christmas Derby Day on Saturday the 28th of December, where all opponents face their nearest rivals in the league. This will then see once again Llantwit pitted against their Vale of Glamorgan rivals Old Penarthians. Old Pens will be coming into the fixture strong having only lost two games all season and with the game being played in Penarth is a huge test for the Blood and Blacks, as they have often come unstuck there in the past. The Battle of the Vale then should be a right humdinger. Kick off is at 2:30pm.