Llanelli Wanderers Rugby Football Club

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

MATCH REPORT

FISHGUARD v LLANELLI WANDERERS  17/01/04

Thankfully, the Wanderers have got their promotion bandwagon back on track after 2 indifferent performances recently in the league. They traveled to Fishguard on Saturday and returned with a well-deserved 43 points to 13 victory.

The score line does not really reflect how hard the Wanderers worked for their win, with new signings Jeff Adams and Sean Thomas forming a potent partnership in mid field, until Jeff was forced to leave the field injured at half time. Johney Jones also made a welcome return at outside half after a period of 8 weeks out injured.

The glorious sunshine camouflaged a bitterly cold day with a strong breeze in the Wanderers favour in the first half.  It was, however, Fishguard who had the early possession and territory with the Wanderers midfield understandably lacking any cohesion. It was however the Wanderers who opened the scoring against the run of play when, after being awarded a penalty in their own half, they  proceeded to move the ball wide for Karl Evans to make ground and when confronted 10 meters out, was able to feed inside for Andrew Davies, being where a good flanker should, to cross under the posts. Jeff Adams was successful with the conversion.

Fishguard were rocked when from the restart the Wanderers entered into a passage of play where backs and forwards combined well for Lee Cook to cross near the posts. Jeff Adams was again successful with the conversion.  The half closed with the Wanderers defence holding firm and 14 points to 0 up.

Fishguard again took up the early running but, from a lineout deep in their own 22, Rob Mathias broke away to the half way where the ball was again spun out wide for wing Gareth Spuffard to sprint the 40 meters to score.  Fishguard recorded their first points when they were awarded a penalty for a late tackle.

There then followed perhaps some of the best rugby the Wanderers have played for quite some time, where the ball was continually recycled until scrum half Andrew Jenkins saw the Fishguard defence stretched, sold a dummy and sprinted the 15 meters to the line.

But again Fishguard put pressure on the Wanderers and were finally rewarded with a try out wide, which was converted.

The Wanderers again upped a gear following this and proceeded to create space with some excellent combined play from backs and forwards for Rob Mathias to cross, converted by Sean Thomas.  Further tries followed for Johney Jones, a 30-meter sprint to the line, and Karl Evans who broke from half way to score.  Conversion of Karl`s try by Sean.

The Wanderers pack had again laid the foundation for the win against a more than useful Fishguard team and with the new signings in the back division causing competition for places, it augurs well for the crunch game next Saturday against promotion rivals Pembroke Dock Quins.

FINAL SCORE: FISHGUARD 13        LANELLI WANDERERS 43.

Wanderers –  TRIES:   A. DAVIES, L. COOK, G. SPUFFARD, A. JENKINS, R. MATHIAS, J. JONES, and K. EVANS

CONVERSIONS:            J. ADAMS (2),  S. THOMAS (2)                   

This website was designed by and is maintained by John Davies

© Llanelli Wanderers RFC 2003-2008. All rights reserved.