Llandovery V Neath
Saturday 27th December 2003

MATCH REPORT

LLANDOVERY 19 NEATH 20 (by Phil Space)
The magic of the Cup never fails to ignite All Black passions and Neath showed plenty of that quality at Llandovery where they survived a late comeback of Sinatra proportions by the home side.

The Blacks were very well supported on their tough mission west to Llandovery who have lost only twice to Neath and to Cross Keys since October. Their 10-11 defeat at The Gnoll only three weeks ago meant that the Blacks knew they were in for a tough time.

Neath, looking sharper behind, edged a 10-9 halftime lead through a penalty by Matthew Jones who added the conversion points to a fine try by centre John Leyshon after wonderful "softening up" by the forwards. Full back Ricky Williams kicked three penalties for the Drovers.

Paul Jones' men extended their lead to 20-9 through another Jones penalty and his conversion of Leyshon's second try which was the product of a well-conceived move involving Jones and Mitchell that bamboozled the home defence.

Neath had a try disallowed that would have sewn up the tie but Llandovery came back with a vengeance, Williams kicking his fourth penalty and converting a try by wing Ifan Evans.

That left the All Blacks leading 20-19 with ten minutes to go and they held on to seize a place in the last 32.

A near-thing ……. but then so was Cefneithin in 1971/72 !!

Next Saturday, the Blacks travel to meet Swansea at St. Helen's. S4C coverage means that the match will kick off at 5.30 pm and the Blacks hope as many fans as possible will make the journey (including those whose Osprey season tickets get them free entry !) as a win will see Neath go top of the table as Newport's game at Cross Keys is off due to the Welsh Cup.

Neath v Llandovery :- G.Morris; P.Bamsey, J.Leyshon, W.Mitchell, M.Evans; Matthew Jones, P.Horgan; P.Jones (captain), D.Poland, A.Howell; T.Davies, L.Bateman; A.Llewellyn, H.Jenkins, J.McPhail Replacements :- M.Jones, R.Morgan, C.Griffiths, A.Littlehales, R.Phillips, B.Sinkinson, S.Phillips