Cwmllynfell notched their first WRU Division 3 Cup victory with a hard-fought success at a soggy Parc y Bryn.
The match was preceded by a minute’s silence/applause for former player Jordan James.
The home side took an early lead with a penalty from the accurate boot of full back Steff Rees. But in a sometimes dour forward battle, the Amman forwards put the pressure on, before the ball was swept wide, centre Joel Foster’s pass almost putting wing Liam Danter in the corner, but the ball went down.
Amman’s lineout horrors again surfaced on Halloween weekend, and another lost lineout on their own ball saw Cwm quickly counter attack; after a good phases of play, they were awarded a penalty, and Rees safely sent the kick over to make it 6-0.
Amman were then held up on the Cwm tryline as prop Christian Dean was narrowly thwarted by some good defending.
Then, the hosts were reduced by a man when their prop was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on as Amman again attacked; the Reds’ solid scrum functioned well,and the defence was soon sucked in, allowing captain Alun Lewis to find the space and cross for the try, which centre Foster converted.
The visitors lost hooker George Clark to a head injury as halftime arrived, his side narrowly ahead, 7-6.
Into the second half,and Steff Rees’ monster penalty attempt from just inside his own half narrowly dropped short, while Foster also failed to hit the target at the other end.Rees made amends, his next attempt making it 9-7 to regain the Cwm lead.
On the hour, the forward battle continued, and an excellent passing move from the home side was rewarded when centre Carwyn Lewis cut through the United defence for a crucial try, converted by Steff Rees.
Trailing 16-7 and now needing two scores,Amman still went at it to try and rescue the cup tie; their forwards have been going well all
season, and as they pounded the home try line, prop Daniel James was the latest to be held up on the whitewash.
Acuna Bezzara replaced Foster in the centre, while Craig Ratcliffe also came off the bench to bolster the pack; with time running out, they finally broke through a stubborn home defence, Ratcliffe involved before Alun Lewis took the try scoring pass.
Amman restarted and were again camped on the Cwm tryline as time finally ran out and Cwmllynfell held on for the victory.
In the other cup fixture in the section, Llangadog earned a surprise 25-5 win against previously-unbeaten Haverfordwest.
The results see Haverfordwest finish top of Group L with ten points, Llangadog in second with 8, Amman in third with 6 and Cwmllynfell fourth with five points.
