Division 1 West: Kidwelly RFC 40 v Ammanford RFC 23.
Saturday 5th January 2013.
Summary from All Wales Sport's Blogspot:Kidwelly and Ammanford were involved in an eight try thriller, with the Black and Ambers making light of the heavy conditions to grab a 40-23 home win over their rivals.
The hosts helped themselves to five tries with braces from Andy Francis and Steff Evans, and were also awarded a penalty try to seal a memorable triumph.
A sparse crowd that braved the January chill were treated to a feast of running rugby as both sides looked to run off the festive indulgences.
Ammanford started well and looked to be in fine form as they took on their hosts, gaining good ground from an excellent rolling maul. The visitors indeed exerted some pressure on the home side in the opening period but were dealt a cruel blow when prop Liam Baker was carried off very early in the game. The injury break unsettled Ammanford and Kidwelly capitalised on a missed tackle to score their first try wide out.
Almost immediately from the restart they again created confusion in the Ammanford defence which opened up a clear run in for their second try, this time converted to give them a 12-0 advantage as Gareth Owen limped off with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Steff Jones.
Ammanford sprang into action and a dazzling run by Gary Stephens created an opening for the supporting Jake Simm to score in the corner reducing arrears to 12-5.
Indiscipline cost the visitors as they battled desperately to stem the Kidwelly riposte. Iwan Mainwaring incurring the wrath of the referee was shown the yellow and Kidwelly took advantage converting 2 penalty goals to extend their lead. Again Ammanford rallied and after several excellent phases created an opening for Steff Jones to crash through the defence for a try converted by Rhydian Morris.
Half-time 18-12.
Ammanford started the second half with purpose and were soon on the attack and asking questions of the Kidwelly defence and converted a penalty to reduce the arrears. From a quick penalty on their own 10 metre line the ball was neatly switched back to Dafydd Pritchard whose blistering pace took him through the defensive line into the opponents' half off-loading to the supporting Jake Simm who broke several tackles before recycling the ball for Gruff Jones to score in the corner 18-20.
Kidwelly responded positively and were very fortunate to be awarded a dubious try to regain the lead before a penalty try was awarded effectively ending the Ammanford revival. The hosts, good value for their victory, then ran in a decisive 5th try which flattered the score line.
This was a very encouraging performance by the Ammanford youngsters who can look forward to better results in coming weeks. Ammanford were well served by Gary Stephens who always looked dangerous and man of the match Llyr Morris who was a constant thorn in the Kidwelly defence.
Next Saturday Ammanford will entertain league leaders Tondu in the first home game of 2013 and will be away at Waunarlwydd on 19th January in the next round of the Plate competition.
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