AFTER two impressive away victories against Mumbles and Pontarddulais, Burry Port would have been confident of a home win against rivals St Clears on Saturday (Feb 16).
Burry Port got off to a great start and threatened the visitors’ try line on a couple of occasions until centre Duane Evans powered over for the first try of the afternoon. Stef Powell nailed the difficult conversion to make it 7-0.
The Blacks continued to dominate the half and should have added at least two more scores after being held up over the line and being denied by some desperate defence.
St Clears could have narrowed the gap against the run of play but a missed attempt at goal right in front of the posts was a let off for Burry Port.
Burry Port continued to play some entertaining rugby but frustration was starting to creep in as they couldn’t break a stubborn defence and could only manage a Penalty from Stef Powell for their efforts.
From the restart and only a couple of minutes left of the half, a mistake by Burry Port gave Saints possession and some good phases in the 22 finally got them a try and they only trailed 10-7 at half time.
The second half started again with Burry Port applying pressure through some intelligent kicking by fullback Theo Barnes-Watson who was making his first start for Burry Port after making his debut last week and He went on to have a very impressive performance.
However Burry Port failed to add to their tally. St Clears had a good period of play and camped themselves on the Burry Ports try line looking for a score that would have given them an unlikely lead but the Home defence held up and they managed to clear their lines.
Once up field a break by replacement centre Declan Knox set up a try for captain Andy Francis again converted by Stef Powell to put a bit of daylight between the scores 17-7.
That score seemed to take the pressure of Burry Port and with and the next try soon came as a kick up field found centre Knox winning the foot race to gather the ball and score under the posts to make it 24-7.
St Clears started to look tired and after competing well for 70 minutes started to fall off tackles and lose the battle at the contact area and with Burry Port now looking for the bonus point try it was always going to be a tough last few minutes.
An attacking Burry Port scrum just outside the 22 led to the crucial fourth try, a strong carry and a great offload by flanker Cai Jones to outside half Powell saw him glide over to everyone’s delight.
In the dying minutes a mistake by the St Clears lineout on their own try line led to ever green veteran Dylan Evans pouncing on the loose ball to score a well-deserved try and bring the game to a close.
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