Neath V Llanelli
Wednesday, 16th March 2005, 7.10pm KO

MATCH REPORT (by Phil Space)

NEATH 22 LLANELLI nil
Leaders Neath took another huge step towards claiming the Welsh Premiership title when they avenged their first defeat of the season against old rivals Llanelli who were as well beaten as the scoreline suggests.

Last December, Llanelli ended Neath's long winning run in the league with a 24-13 victory in the reverse fixture at Stradey Park but this time there was no denying the Blacks as they staged their fifth consecutive win.

Mist shrouded The Gnoll as James Hook, the Premier Division's leading scorer, pushed the Blacks ahead with a penalty after just two minutes. The outside-half repeated the dose soon after and then he made it a hat-trick inside half an hour when highly-rated visiting full-back Lee Byrne completely failed to deal with an up and under.

Flanker Lee Beach was often at the head of the Neath forward effort and lock Chris Gittins won much valuable lineout ball but too frequently Llanelli were able to slow down ball delivery.

Their jittery defence was a feature too and at fault again when wing Aled Bevan stole in for Neath's first try to make it 14-nil at the interval. Injuries to the two Ioan's - Cunningham and Ohlsson - did not help Llanelli's cause but with wind advantage to come they were still in the game.

But Neath began the second-half as if they meant business and, when the visitors were penalised in front of their posts, Hook sent over a fourth penalty. Straightaway, the Blacks all but made the game safe when Bevan broke and found centre Mike Jones on his shoulder to touch down for their second try.

At 22-0 the Blacks were safely in control but it took two last-ditch tackles by Hook to prevent Llanelli from scoring. Neath No. 8 Hywel Jenkins followed Llanelli's Matthew Evans into the sin-bin but the Blacks introduced Paul Jones and John McPhail from the bench with powerful effect.

Given the strength of the wind, it was a remarkable effort by Neath not to concede a point in the second-half but their defensive resolution was admirable as they repelled Llanelli with McPhail engineering one vital steal.

The nil was important to Neath and there was no way back for Llanelli and the Welsh All Blacks are now nine points ahead of Newport with a game in hand and have 12 days in which to prepare for the game with Aberavon at The Gnoll on Easter Monday.

Neath v Llanelli - G.Morris (captain); A.Bevan, Mike Jones, A.Durston (N.Clapham), R.Johnston; J.Hook, M.Roberts (Mark Davies); A.W.Davies (P.Jones), A.Littlehales (E.Shervington), A.Howell (C.Mitchell); S.Martin (B.Davies), C.Gittins; L.Beach, H.Jenkins, J.Davies (J.McPhail)