Llandovery got off the bottom of the Premiership table with a decisive 41-24 win over Newbridge on Saturday. It was the end of a great week for the Drovers after their 22-19 win over Swansea on Wednesday - but Newbridge now slide down to the 16th and bottom spot, mindful of all the hard work they need to put in to avoid the dreaded drop.
After the dismay and despondency following the heavy defeat at Pontypridd, confidence was not exactly high at Church Bank but the two wins in four days has proved a huge boost for the Drovers. Home coaches Iestyn Thomas and Geraint Williams, who appeared for Newbridge in the 1983 Schweppes Cup semi-final, considered the midweek win over Swansea had been of overwhelming importance in giving the squad a belief in itself. "We knew that the team was far better than the record up to the Swansea game (one win in eight games). And the last two wins have been important in convincing the players that this was the case," said Thomas. "There's a long way to go but we are confident that we can compete with most teams and hopefully finish in a respectable position come next April." added Williams.
The key to the surge in Llandovery form has been the rousing display in the loose of the pack, which completely outplayed the Swansea eight and did virtually the same to the Newbridge eight. The Davies brothers, Ceri at flanker who scored two tries against Swansea, and Iwan at lock, have been quite outstanding in the brace of victories over the last week but the major turnaround in form has also been down to the vastly improved lineout display of the Drovers pack.
Against Newbridge, locks Davies and Tom Walker mopped up the lineouts so well that it had Llandovery supporters rubbing their eyes in disbelief and with all eight forwards rivalling each other in the chase to the loose ball, the result was rarely in doubt. In the loose, too, the Drovers pack was more urgent with Iwan Davies making the first try for flanker Eifion Gwynne and generally being a nuisance to Newbridge in every area.
Wing Ifan Evans, prop and captain Andrew Jones and scrum-half Rob Walters got the other first half tries, against a lone effort from skipper and flanker Damian Cooper and five points from the boot of fly-half Ross Watts. Newbridge hooker Darryl Williams burrowed over early in the second half to make it 24-17 before Evans's second try and a brilliant solo effort from fly-half Neil Clapham put the game well out of the visitors' reach. A late try by the tireless Cooper right at the end made the scoreline respectable but did little to soften the blow of decisive defeat.
