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Llandovery 104 Beddau 0

WRU Cup 1st Round

Match report by Lynn West

The scoreline is embarrassing but the performance fell some way from that.  A weakened squad was further reduced when top points-scorer Hywel Chatham and nuggety tight-head Ben Lee were forced, through illness, to withdraw on the morning of the match.  

The late withdrawal of Ben Lee together with the shoulder injury suffered by loose head Ben Stephens meant that Beddau were forced to field only three replacements in the absence of front row cover.  Injury rarely arrives without an added insult and it took less than a minute to lose young Regan Wilson as the open side was led away from the first collision.  His replacement, Ethan Coombes, is, ironically by preference a hooker as is Tom Geere who had also been pressed into back row duties.

A succession of drives by the energetic home pack saw lock Joe Powell reach the line for Kristian Jones to convert on his way to a final haul of 34 points.  Worse was to come!  At the very next scrummage loose head Owen Cotton limped away.  It had been a risk as Dot had been receiving treatment for a persistent knee injury and was making his first start for 5 weeks.  Sadly, under current laws around non-contested scrums Beddau were not allowed a replacement and had to play out the rest of a game, which had barely started, with 14 men, no xenophobia intended.

From the first newly conformed scrum Lee Rees scampered into space and several passes later Joe Powell was driven over for his second try with Kristian Jones again on target.

Beddau were attempting to match fire with fire but when a pass went astray the Drovers recycled it swiftly and some good releasing from contact saw a well-constructed try finished by centre Rhodri Jones and converted by Kristian Jones.  Another phase, played at pace, opened the way for the other centre Carwyn Evans with Kristian Jones continuing to tuck into the conversion feast.

Again it was a demonstration of how to pass from the tackle that led to a try for prop Dino Dallavalle and if this gave Kristian Jones a little more to do it made no difference.  This was a precursor, though, for when the Drovers made a number of passes in a move that started in their own 22 right wing Corey Baldwin completed a lengthy run-in and Kristian Jones saw a kick fail.  He soon made amends.  A ball dropped in Beddau`s defence was moved quickly from Lee Rees to Kristian Jones for a try that he, naturally, converted.

At the next attack Lee Rees anticipated his partner`s chip through and was beautifully positioned to gather and score.  Kristian Jones converted to make it 54-0 at the interval.

The second period began with the ball bouncing off fingers from both sides but the benefit of any doubt, not that this seemed an infliction suffered by Mr Spurrier, went to Carwyn Evans who sprinted clear for another Kristian Jones converted try.  A long pass across the Beddau line was intercepted by Corey Baldwin, one-handed but quickly brought under control, for a gallop-in try converted by Kristian Jones from a wide angle.  He evidently liked that one, Corey Baldwin, for he went poaching for and successfully snatched another interception to run in and, within seconds, had finished another move.  It is worth remarking that Kristian Jones converted only one of those. 

Beddau, by now, had lost centre Lewis Egal with Ryan Phillips replacing him but when lock Rhys Owens was forced to leave some readjustments saw Luke Davies on at scrum half so that Jack Secher could fill the centre spot allowing Ryan Phillips to move into the pack.  There was a certain amount of disquiet around the Owens injury.  He had been supporting Tom Geere in contesting a ball at close range when the maul became a ruck.  Two Drovers forwards had pinned Rhys Owens, quite properly, when a third figure threw himself onto the prone body with no visible effort at playing the ball.  Beddau, and the unfortunate Rhys Owens, have another injury to contend with but Mr Spurrier, much closer, admittedly, to the incident saw nothing untoward.

Some loose handling coughed up another ball that the Drovers quickly profited from with Llew Smith scoring and Kristian Jones converting before Jones himself was gifted a try, that he couldn`t convert, by a tiring defence.  Left wing Brandon Woods then got on the end of some good passing with Kristian Jones landing the extras and the scoreboard busting try came from Lewis Ellis-Jones whose marauding play had been prominent throughout.  Mr Spurrier had seen enough and the final whistle blew with the conversion attempt sailing wide.

For Beddau this was not a day to be facing Llandovery with depleted resources.  A young, vigorous and quick outfit would have been hard to contain anyway but to have no chance of holding up events at the set scrum reduced the contest to a 15 against 14 speed-ball match in which there could be just one winner.