Lee Rees left the field in red and white for one last time as a Champion at the CiNER Glass community stadium, scoring on his 402nd and final game for Llandovery. The better side and champions against the odds, The Drovers got their hands on the SRC trophy. Written by Cardiff Met sports media student Seán Richards.
The fairytale farewell was complete, as tries from the Drovers backs including two from Harri Doel made them triumphant. A season where there were plenty of setbacks with a defeat to Newport in the SRC trophy final, the Drovers can now reflect on it as one for the history books.
Starting off superior, the Drovers thought they were over the white wash first through Ioan Hughes but TMO ruled it out. A clever grubber through the defence forced a poor clearance from the Steelmen and Ioan Hughes reacted to the quick lineout, but his foot was in the dead ball denying the try. A clear lead in the kicking battle in the opening stages for the Drovers.
Without hesitation, the Steelmen played cup rugby taking three points early through Evan Lloyd to lead in the first quarter. Moments before, Joe Powell saw yellow for a tackle on Owen Conquer. Despite this, the advantage of the yellow card was nullified through Ioan Hughes who kicked the sides level shortly before the half hour mark.
In classic Ebbw fashion, the fans roared on a strong maul try finished off by Corey Lewis who put the home side ahead. A well worked lineout as the ball found the back jumper before mauling over, and the first signs of feistiness was shown after the try was scored. It wasn’t the last sign either as minutes later Tom Curry and Curtis Gregory saw yellow following a tussle between themselves.
A final guaranteed furiosity, as it continued through the match as the experienced Jon Evans didn’t get away with old school tricks as he held a player down resulting in a yellow card. Llandovery capitalised off the penalty as Rhodri Jones crossed first for the Drovers. Shrugging off defenders and breaking his way through, he scored following the lineout and the Drovers tied level through the conversion by Ioan Hughes at 10-10.
Lee Rees sent a box kick flying over the head of Ebbw Vale’s fullback Dylan Edwards, and rolled into touch to grant a 50/22 five meters short of the try line. The maul came just short for the Drovers who couldn’t capitalise as Ebbw got their exit by winning a scrum penalty on their own try line. Not leaving a thing out there, both sides headed down the tunnel with scores level at 10-10.
A first half more than final worthy as tempers flared, tries from a strong maul and Rhodri Jones who couldn’t be stopped with help from their fly halves saw the game level. No side looked in control as it was more than frantic, but tempers will need to be controlled with four yellow cards inside the first half.
As the Drovers remained on top in the second half, some excellent patience set up Harri Doel to score in the corner. Keeping calm, a few phases from the forwards were short, and Hughes called for it to go wide and simple hands to Kian Abraham set up Harri Doel to squeeze over in the corner.
Following the kick off, Jac Davies broke directly with a huge blister of pace and Harri Doel followed up to finish. Both players needing to shrug off their opposition, Davies broke to almost half way, before offloading to Doel who wriggled past the last man before crossing. Hughes was able to convert the second try, as the Drovers scored twelve points in less than two minutes to lead 10-22 with half an hour to play.
On the other end of the field, Kian Abraham gave everything to hold the ball up and stopped Ebbw from crossing. As the action continued, Aaron Warren gave an outrageous offload to Lee Rees, taking the Drovers from their own 22’ to Ebbw’s in quick succession. The field position was good enough for Ioan Hughes to have a crack at a penalty, but it sailed wide leaving the scores at 10-22 with twenty minutes to play.
With four hundred and two games up for Lee Rees, on his last we found out that he could’ve been a footballer as he dribbled the ball through and over for the fourth try. A ball inside he couldn’t gather with his hands, so using his feet he dribbled the ball through and won the race to the line to score. Hughes couldn’t convert, as the scores were 10-27 in the remaining seventeen minutes.
Ebbw’s creativity wasn’t an issue as two massive opportunities went begging as Mitch Rankie of Ebbw Vale fumbled only five meters short of the line and no Llandovery defenders in front. Despite the errors from Ebbw, they were forced by the Drovers as the Steelmen knocked on just short due to the brave defensive efforts.
Emotions rose late on as Ebbw saw red for Dylan Bartlett following a dangerous clear out, but shortly after the referee blew up for full time with the scores 10-27 to Llandovery. They made the impossible possible after a 7% potential win rate on television coverage. An outstanding effort and the better side despite being the visitors. The party could now begin with the SRC trophy heading west to Llandovery.
Llandovery Starting XV (Coach – Euros Evans)
Jamie Hughes, Cameron Lewis, Gabe Hawley, Harry Holden, Joe Powell, Dan Gemine, Tom Curry, Evan Sheldon, Lee Rees (C), Ioan Hughes, Aaron Warren, Rhodri Jones, Kian Abraham, Harri Doel, Jac Davies.
Replacements
Harry Thomas, Sam O’Connor, Berian Watkins, Kai Jones, Tiaan Sparrow, Adam Warren, Jack Maynard, Lucca Setaro.
Ebbw Vale Starting XV (Coach – Jason Strange)
Luke Garrett, Corey Lewis, Adam Williams, Dylan Bartlett, Curtis Gregory, Alfred Bateman Lloyd, Sion Parry, Owen Conquer, Jon Evans, Evan Lloyd, Dafydd Thomas, Dom Franchi (C), Ethan Phillips, Mitch Rankine, Dylan Edwards.
Replacements
James Talamai , Adam Court, Morgan Bosanko, Dylan Burrows, Lewis Young, Gruff Tough, Cam Davies, Ryan Gardner.
Tries
Ebbw Vale – Corey Lewis. Llandovery – Rhodri Jones, Harri Doel x 2, Lee Rees.
Conversions
Ebbw Vale – Evan Lloyd x 1 Llandovery – Ioan Hughes x 2
Penalties
Ebbw Vale – Evan Lloyd x 1 Llandovery – Ioan Hughes x 1
Yellow Cards
Ebbw Vale – Curtis Gregory, Jon Evans. Llandovery – Joe Powell, Tom Curry.
Red Cards
Ebbw Vale – Dylan Bartlett. Llandovery – N/A