Swalec Cup Semi Final
Llandovery 25
Pontypridd 16
At St Helen’s, Swansea
LLANDOVERY wrecked Pontypridd’s plans of a treble this season by beating them 25-16 at St Helen’s, Swansea, while the Quins ended a run of five successive defeats against Cross Keys with a 21-20 triumph at the Talbot Athletic Ground, Aberavon.
It means the Drovers are into their first final since they so famously won the title by beating Cardiff 20-18 in 200 7 and the Quins make a return to the home of Welsh rugby for the first time since their debut in the cup final in 2010.
Last weekend Ponty beat Bedwas to win the Foster’s Challenge Cup at Bridgend and then went to Cardiff during the week and picked up the bonus-point win they needed to return to the top of the Principality Premiership. But there was no fairytale end to the week for them as they were beaten by a Jack Maynard inspired Llandovery side.
Maynard’s 10-point haul in as many minutes sent Llandovery into their first final for nine years. He started with a penalty to edge his side in front and then added a matchclinching interception try, which he also converted.
An early try from Ponty’s Joel Raikes was cancelled out by efforts from Aaron Warren and Will Thomas before the Drovers won the battle of attrition. Scrum-half Raikes gave Ponty the dream start when he spotted a gap and darted through to score at the posts after 10 minutes.
Former Wales outside-half Ceri Sweeney added the conversion before striking an opportunistic drop-goal to earn a 10-0 lead for his side. But the west Walian’s were not about to give up on their dream of reaching the Principality Stadium.
Ex-Scarlets star Warren raced home to get Llandovery back into the game after 23 minutes and then they hit the front moments later when fullback Thomas crossed and Maynard converted. Sweeney and Maynard then traded penalties, but it was the Drovers who took a 15-13 half time lead into the changing rooms.
Llandovery survived a sin-binning to Stuart Worrall four minutes into the second half, but cup kings Ponty used all their experience to wrestle their way back in-front with 15 minutes remaining when Sweeney struck his third successful penalty.
At that stage it looked as though Ponty No 8 Dan Godfrey was going to have something special to celebrate his 200th appearance for the club, but then Sweeney went from hero to villain when he was picked up a yellow card That offence, five minutes from time, allowed Maynard to snatch an 18-16 lead.
The outside half then picked off a pass in midfield to seal with the clock entering the red zone to make the winning margin even greater.
Teams:
Llandovery: 15. Will Thomas 14. Lex Botha 13. Matthew Jacobs 12. Craig Woodall 11. Aaron Warren 10. Jack Maynard 9. Lee Rees: 1. Wyn Jones 2. Luke Lewis 3. Greg Cunniffe 4. Bryn Griffiths 5. Matthew Harbut 6. Phil Day 7. Stuart Worrall 8. Richard Brooks
Replacements: 16. Berian Watkins 17. Dean Howells 18. Jake Baker 19. Shaun Miles 20. Dafydd Hughes 21. Rhodri Jones 22. James Davies 23. Rhodri Davies
Pontypridd: 15. Geraint Walsh. 14. Lewis I Williams. 13. Bradley Coombes. 12. Dafydd Lockyer 11. Alex Webber. 10. Ceri Sweeney. 9. Joel Raikes: 1. Corey Domachowski. 2. Huw Dowden. 3. Keiron Assiratti. 4. Hemi Barnes. 5. Seb Davies. 6. Jake Thomas. 7. Rhys Shellard. 8. Dan Godfrey.
Replacements: 16. Lloyd Williams. 17. Lewis K Williams. 18. Matthew Nuthall. 19. Ashleigh James. 20. Dafi Davies. 21. Jordan Sieniawski. 22. Chris Phillips. 23. Mitch Auger.
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