Llanelli Wanderers Rugby Football Club

Affiliated to: The Welsh Rugby Union, West Wales Rugby Union, and the Llanelli & District Rugby Union

Unfortunately they came away shell shocked after suffering one of their heaviest defeats and the victory coupled with other results going their way meant the Wanderers are now top of the League and still unbeaten for the season.

This was a rude awakening for the young North Road squad and it will take all the skills of Management for the Coaching team of Kevin Thomas and Neil Evans to pick the side up and be ready for next weeks home encounter against Laugharne.

The home side ran in eight tries and all scored by their powerful and impressive back line with the catalyst of the team coming from Ex Llanelli centre Daniel Rogers who scored three of his sides total but he would be the first to admit that some of the scores came as a result of poor and lack lustre play by the visitors some of whome looked tired and lethargic after a midweek run out against the students of Aberystwyth.

Lampeter were on the back foot from the kick off and despite missing two early penalty opportunities, the home side took the lead after quarter of an hour. A slick well worked move allowed winger Mark Cooke to go over in the corner unopposed.

Lampeter did get the chance to reduce the deficit when they were awarded their first penalty but the kick by Huw Thomas just landed short of the crossbar.

The Wanderers looked dangerous every time the ball was being passed between the backs and it was no surprise when winger James Murray got their second touchdown, but again it went unconverted.

Lampeter came back strongly with five minutes of the first half remaining and a powerful drive by centre Jonathan Evans, who is slowly becoming a Lampeter legend, was rewarded when he got the touchdown and with Huw Thomas converting, they had managed to reduce the deficit to just three points.

Unfortunately this was very short lived, for immediately from the restart, no one in the Lampeter side took responsibility of the restart kick and the ball bounced nicely in to the hands of the Wanderers forwards who released the ball quickly allowing Rodgers to run through a weak defensive line to score the first of his tries.

This was not the last of the scoring in the first half. As the game went in to injury time, the Wanderers full back Nicky Davies got in on the act and scored an excellent try to give his side a 22-10 advantage at the interval.

Despite a rallying call at the break from Captain John Rhys, the second half could not have started worse for the visitors. Once again, poor defensive work and a catalogue of errors with no one taking responsibility for the ball allowed centre Leighton Williams to score under the posts.

Lampeter were now desperate for a score but as is the case when a team is chasing a game, a loose ball in midfield was gathered up by Rodgers who raced clear to score his second and his sides sixth try.

At this stage, Lampeter looked like a well beaten outfit, but to their credit they remained positive and they had a period of pressure on the home line which unfortunately they could not convert in to points.

With ten minutes of the game remaining, Lampeters woes were compounded when replacement Chris Thomas was shown red for a rather inconspicuous challenge.

They were to pay for this with two further tries going the way of the home side, one of which went to Man of the Match Rodgers which gave his side a resounding win by 46-10.
On the day, the visitors were totally outplayed by a clinical Wanderers side who are worthy to be leaders of the league at this early stage of the season. Their forwards set the platform for their impressive backs to run in tries from all angles.

As for Lampeter, they must now regroup quickly for next weeks home encounter against Laugharne.

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