Yet another last gasp conversion for Llandovery sees them victorious at home against a great RGC performance, who will feel hard done by after leading by 13 points with only 8 minutes remaining, writes Drovers’ rugby correspondent Harri Beckwith.
Home side Llandovery managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with an impressive show of resilience to fight back against RGC, who in reality, were likely the better team throughout the game.
RGC started the game well, and looked to prove last week’s result wrong from the first minutes. Early pressure from the Northerners saw them secure an early 3 points from Dion Jones’ boot. Llandovery, as they have for the majority of the season, started slowly, allowing RGC to prosper and command the game from the beginning.
RGC’s Osian Llewelyn scored the first try of the match, diving over the line before Dion Jones converted, adding to his personal score tally for the afternoon. Some attacking possession for both teams followed with no end result for either team. RGC looked more dangerous, but multiple knock-ons caused problems for them
RGC did show signs of defensive impenetrability and Llandovery really did not look like scoring, even struggling to make it out of their own 22m line on some occasions. Thankfully for the hosts, a Ioan Hughes penalty changed the tide and Llandovery finally looked like they could threaten the RGC lead.
Despite an RGC penalty increasing their lead, Llandovery still maintained momentum and looked dangerous. Aiding Llandovery’s momentum was the sin-binning of RGC’s Jac Petch-Jones, which gave Llandovery the man-advantage, which they took in the 37th minute, Jac Davies weaving through two defenders to score his, and Llandovery’s first try of the day. Ioan Hughes showed his unwavering composure once again, to convert.
Llandovery looked incredibly dangerous, which made it all the more shocking when RGC’s Tudur Jones finished off a stunning move for the away side completely against the run of play, taking a 10-point lead into halftime.
RGC began the second half the way they had ended the first, scoring a try just 5 minutes into the restart, Caio Parry, arguably RGC’s most dangerous player on the day, creating a try scored by James Brown.
As they have shown multiple times this season, Llandovery aren’t a team who will give up easily, and today was no different. Ioan Hughes, barrelled over in the 50th minute to score before converting his own try.
With a way back into the game, frustration built amongst the Drovers supporters as they continued to give away numerous penalties, showing a lack of discipline which they’re lucky did not cost them more in the end. The wind was a factor in RGC only scoring one of the penalties that they were gifted.
Chris Long scored his second of the season, battling with his forwards to cross the white line. Unfortunately for Llandovery, Ioan Hughes was unsuccessful with his conversion, thankfully for him this did not cost them in the end.
RGC looked to have won it with 8 minutes remaining, Caio Parry’s suberb try and Jones’ conversion extended their lead to 13. In a remarkable show of character, Llandovery dug in deep and scored a fantastic try. Ioan Hughes kicking the ball cross-field to find Llien Morgan who elegantly tapped the ball back into the arms of Jac Davies to score his second of the game.
As the clock turned red, Llandovery needed a converted try to win the game. RGC defended their try line with their lives, however it wasn’t enough to stop Llandovery powering over, Tiaan Sparrow getting the ball down and the points scored.
It all came down to that last kick, and Ioan Hughes made it look effortless, winning the game for the Drovers. He said afterwards “I’d had a similar kick not long before, so I knew what the wind was doing, so I just needed to send it” and described the winning feeling “a sense of relief, we’re chuffed”.
Llandovery face fellow title-contenders Ebbw Vale away next, on October 16th, where they will hope to continue their winning start.