Llanelli suffer heavy loss to Aberavon

Aberavon RFC 40
Llanelli RFC 13

LLANELLI put in a lacklustre display away at fellow mid-table side Aberavon in a game where they never looked like taking the lead and failed to register a single point in the second half.

This was Llanelli’s penultimate away Principality Premiership fixture and it was never going to be an easy affair as Aberavon were defending an unbeaten home record for 2015.

Lethargic defence saw the home team run in two converted tries in the first 10 minutes.

With just 60 seconds on the clock Cameron Clement made a superb break and sent flanker Rob Dudley-Jones racing clear. Clement converted and did so again after a fine team try from deep in their own half that saw Sam Williams, Ben Thomas and David Pritchard all involved before Richard Carter touched down and Clement converted.

Llanelli hit back when a neat kick through the flat Wizards defence by Stuart Morris was read by Llanelli wing Justin James, who touched down. Morris added the extras before also adding two well-struck penalties to bring Llanelli to within a point.

But it was the home team who found another gear and began to turn the screw on Llanelli. Following another Clement penalty, number 8 Ben Thomas stormed across from a line-out for an interval lead of 22-13.

Another two penalties from Clement kept the scoreboard ticking and Aberavon finished the game as they had started, with a further two converted tries from Richard Carter and Joe Tomalin- Reeves to give the home side a bonus point win and in the process leapfrog Llanelli into seventh spot.

Llanelli will be bitterly disappointed with their performance and will require a vast improvement when they host runaway leaders Pontypridd at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday March 22, kick off 2.30pm.

LLANELLI TEAM: Ellis Phillips; Kyle Evans; Richard Thomas; Craig Woodall; Justin James; Stuart Morris; Jonathan Rogers: Rhys Thomas; Darran Harris; Ben Leung; Adam Powell; Ed Price; Craig Price; Josh Middleton; Roy Osborn