Lampeter 45-10 Nantgaredig

Writes John Jones

Lampeter finished comfortable victors in this meeting exacting revenge on the defeat earlier on in the season at he hands of the Towy valley side. Whilst the scoreline may look one sided, Nant gave the home side a real run for their money right up until the final quarter of the match where a combination of tired Nant legs,resulting from playing midweek matches for the past two weeks along with Lampeter unloading their bench, which proved crucial in hammering home their advantage in putting the game to bed. With Nant's season ending with their trip to North Road their intent on finishing with a flourish became evident as they raced into the lead,silencing the large home crowd gathered to share their views on the ludicrous League promotion rules to Gareth Davies,Chairman of the WRU.
With Flyhalf Huw Thomas having a nightmare opening half, Nantgaredig moved the ball quickly and accurately for impressive Centre Rhys Edwards to barge his way past the shell shocked Lampeter defence to score near the posts,converted by Rhodri Jones. Clawing their way back into the game with a brace of penalties, Arwel Thomas added a well taken try to his successful penalties,not bad for Thomas considering he was playing with twelve stitches in his leg following a freak accident with a lawn mower. Straight from the restart Nant drove upfield towards the home tryline with referee catching Lampeter offside on more than one occasion, resulting in more pressure on the home defensive wall. On the field as a blood replacement, Flanker Dan Hage found himself in the doldrums as a case of mistaken identity saw him leave the field for slowing ball down near the scoreline. Kicking the three points going into half time saw the scores close to within a point and surprisingly the last points that the visitors would score.
At the turnaround Lampeter took control as their half backs finally woke up, even though kicker Thomas had to leave with his leg injury with rising star Kyle Ward moving to Centre with 'The Statesman', Ceri Thomas moving from Flanker to Wing. Recognising a mismatch Nant immediately targeted the wide out spaces and would have scored had Fullback Rhys Douglas not put in an excellent try saving tackle on his opposite number preventing a certain comeback score for the visitors as Lampeter cleared their lines from the resulting breakdown. Player Coach Derrick Morgan left the field triggering a raft of changes in the Nant side where they lost their shape and defensive structure. Lampeter started winning most of the ref's 50/50 calls and pressed to score in front of the now vocal balcony.
Patiently after several phases Douglas soared over the line after great link work from veteran Hooker Aled Jacob,with Douglas adding the extras from the tee. Running out of steam along with another Youth product Gareth Morgan Isaacs injecting pace and power into the game,Lampeter began to cut loose as Flyhalf Huw Thomas almost made up for his awful start by delivering a perfect pass to Centre Garth Griffiths to waltz through for another converted score. Nant's head's were now starting to drop as Lampeter replaced the ever improving Guto Jones with Gerallt Thomas who upped the average age of the side quite considerably. Thomas immediately made an impact with his looking for space and not contact policy paying dividends for Flanker come Wing Ceri Thomas who popped up to score just to remind everyone that he was still on the field. As the bench unloaded with Chris 'Bola' Thomas leaving along with Jacobs, debutant John Heath, still recovering from his eighteenth birthday on the Friday latched on to great build up play to score a popular try wide out. With minutes to play Captain Daryl Davies called for another, and his troops responded with a solo effort for powerful Centre Kyle Ward who broke several tackles,with Nant Winger Owen Rhys lucky not to see a red card for a ludicrous high tackle on the Lampeter man. Ward rode the tackle to score the final try sounding the death knell for Nantgaredig as Ceri Thomas took guidance from his sidelined sibling Arwel to slot the conversion from wide out.
Youngster Rhys Douglas had an excellent second half where he punished Nant with his turn of pace and solid defence earning him the Man of The Match accolade. Looking back on the game Nant will wonder how they could play so well yet lose by so many points. The answer probably lies within the back up system Lampeter have worked so hard for over a decade to put in place, along with the superb coaching the Youth players have been receiving through talented Coach Gavin Simpson who have boosted the 1st XV this season. The future looks bright for both sides judging by the standard of rugby on show at North Road. Lampeter play Llandybie next Saturday in a rescheduled match determined to right the horror show match which was deemed a draw early season down in Llandybie. Kick off at 2.30 with all support appreciated.