Llanelli Wanderers Rugby Football Club

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

MATCH REPORT

 MILFORD HAVEN v LLANELLI WANDERERS 06/12/03

Saturday saw the Wanderers travel to Milford and a return to League action.  The Wanderers were disrupted when 3 players pulled out on the morning of the game but still managed to run out winners by 18 points to 3.

It was certainly a cold reception, with the ground overlooking the bay, which was however countered with a very warm welcome on the pitch.

The Wanderers played the first half into the stiff breeze and were under the cosh for most of the half. However, poor decision making by their opponents left them off the hook on a number of occasions. The opening score of the half was in fact a very dubious drop goal to Milford , which it appears only the referee thought had cleared the posts.

The Wanderers were finding difficulty in getting their game going, in the main due to the home teams disrupting tactics. The only play of note being a couple of barnstorming runs from prop Johney Hope and No.8 Rob Jenkins.

The half closed with the score on 3 – 6 to the Wanderers thanks to 2 penalties from outside half Barrie Davies.

The pattern of the first half continued in the second. However, with the breeze at their backs, Barrie Davies was able to keep the Wanderers going forward.

From a position in the home 22, Barrie Davies showed he had lost none of his skills despite his age, when he darted between the opposing centers to score under the posts. Unbelievably, the conversion failed.  3 - 11

Milford managed to put the Wanderers under pressure mid way through the half, but their chances of pulling off a shock result evaporated when they missed a simple penalty and allowed the Wanderers to regroup and progress down field.

In the final minutes of the game the Wanderers managed to put some passes together , for hooker Gareth Rees to cross wide out. Barrie Davies made amends for his earlier miss by converting from the touchline.

The referee did appear to blow up 5 minutes early, but he was probably fed up with the constant abuse he had to take from players and coaches of the home team.

This was far from a convincing performance by the Wanderers and fell well below the standard they had set in previous weeks. If it had not been for the fact that  coach Barrie Davies had been forced into playing due to the late withdrawals the result could well have been different. As well as scoring 13 points, he did not miss a tackle all day and put in some excellent line kicks under pressure.

FINAL SCORE;            MILFORD HAVEN  3            LLANELLI WANDERERS 18

WANDERERS :             TRIES :                    B. Davies, G. Rees

CONVERSION :         B. Davies

PENALTY :                 B. Davies (2)

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