St Clears 10
Burry Port 32
A 22-MILE drive down the A40 and along the A484 is what separated two rugby teams on Saturday (Oct 29) as Burry Port took on St Clears hot off their 40-0 victory over Nantgaredig last week.
St Clears are a respectable fourth in the Division Three West A league and they have a long history of good players at the club, including former Welsh international Alan ‘Santa’ Reynolds, now first team manager.
A fair crowd had turned up to watch this cup game and a distinct whiff of beef burgers and sausages sizzling on a griddle somewhere filled the air.
With the second XV and Burry Port AFC playing on pitches nearby, whoever was cooking was going to be busy.
The Blues, it was, turned up the gas and were off the mark first following a lot of territorial advantage. They looked to have the measure of Burry Port and some lovely handling out wide after a turnover saw them run in a try out wide, which was converted by their fly half to take the score to 0-7 to the visitors.
It was a really hard fought first half, with both sides coming close but relinquishing possession through unforced errors or penalties.
Burry Port managed to work their way down the other end of the field and earned themselves a penalty. They opted to go for touch and the ensuing line out led to a catch and drive, and after some very impressive work from the home forwards, flanker Llyr Sims was able to bundle his way over out wide.
St Clears got a late first half penalty and went into the changing rooms with the score at 5-10, which must have generated some strong talk in the Burry Port changing room.
The Herald sports team went without a half time burger while catching up on the neighbouring football (association variety) game next door.
Perhaps the All Blacks had been fed raw meat, a sort of burger tartare, to get those primitive juices going. Whatever was said certainly fired up the home team and they were soon dominating play and focusing on field position rather than the stick it up your jumper approach in the pack.
The home team used their powerful catch and drive to see hooker Iwan Roberts find his way to the try line. The try was successfully converted by scrum half Ben Williams.
On the back of a number of darting runs and fine handling, Burry Port, playing in their familiar black kit, were storming away and saying tata to St Clears.
The fitness of the youthful Burry Port pack turned into dominance in the loose and after some nice handling out wide, second row Richard Parker cut through the defence to dive over for the teams third try of the match. Ben Williams once again converted. Soon after, Ben the Boot was once again successful with the boot as he kicked a penalty to stretch the lead further.
There was more to come from the All Blacks as a St Clears attack was intercepted by Burry Port Hooker Iwan Roberts, who dived over unopposed for his second of the game. The final score of the game was a very well worked score, and saw both forwards and backs combine with some beautiful handling and a late switch pass out wide saw Luke Ruddall score in the corner.
At one point, St Clears lost a player who was sin binned for what resembled a high tackle. It did look like St Clears had run out of gas and were in danger of conceding more tries and going home with the leftovers from the party. However, after a hard talking to under the posts from their captain, the Blues stemmed the flow of any more points from the in-form home side.
St Clears will be disappointed that they did not put away the chances they had in the first half and more so that they just didn’t get into top gear from the whistle at the start of the second half. Burry Port will be more than happy with their performance and in the words of Mr McClaren (not the Sex Pistols manager): “There’ll be a few barrels of beer being emptied in the bars of Burry Port tonight.”
Burry Port are at home to Brawdy Senior Men RFC in a Remembrance match on Saturday (Nov 5). Expect some fireworks for that one. Kick off is at 11am.
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