It was back to the league programme for Burry Port RFC (The Blacks) on Saturday when they hosted Llandybie in division 3 West A and it proved to be an entertaining game despite the blustery conditions. Llandybie were by far the hardest team in last year’s campaign when ‘the Blacks’ managed to win the league title. In a tight opening exchange the visitors were taking every opportunity to apply pressure at the scrum, a tactic they employed well earlier in the season, however the solid front row of Matthew Gower, Iwan Roberts and Jordan Williams have developed this aspect of the game and proved to be dominant allowing good possession.
Playing with high tempo, half backs Ben Williams and Dan Etteridge, controlled the pace of the game and did not allow the big Llandybie pack any respite and it was no surprise that strong running centre Declan Knox went over for the first touchdown.
Llandybie capitalised on a kick and chase and scored their own try to remind the home team that they were no pushovers, but It was to be a very eventful day for Number 8 Richard Parker who found himself completing a hat-trick of tries during the first half as Burry Port ran the visitors ragged. Half time 24-5.
The second half looked much the same as Parker crossed for his 4th try, and with Llandybie struggling to cope they were forced to slow the ball down illegally resulting the ref losing patience and showing a couple of yellow cards, however there was a 10 minute patch where Llandybie were awarded a number of penalties close to the Bury Port line and Jonny Ryan was shown a yellow.
Llandybie scored from close range and Burry Port responded with tries from Adam Rudall and youth team captain Steffan Roberts. On full time Llandybie scored a consolation try to make the final score 48-19. This bonus point victory sees the Blacks climb up to 6th spot and with a few games in hand over their rivals a top 4 finish is achievable in this very competitive division.
