Bonymaen 10.

Whitland 18.

A late penalty and drop goal by Emyr Williams helped Whitland to a solid, if unspectacular, win over an inexperienced Bonymaen side which played far better than their lowly league position would suggest.

The Borderers know that every away match at this level is a difficult one and they will rightly be pleased with the outcome after they trailed 10-5 during the second period.

They fought back as Randall Williams’ pack raised the tempo and half-backs Gareth Davies and Emyr Williams kept them going forward.

Emyr Williams had missed an early chance of three points and Bonymaen had prop Richard Murphy yellow-carded before they also had two missed penalty chances for Robert Townsend.

Bonymaen suffered another sin-binning when Mike Havard incurred the wrath of the referee but took the lead when they switched kickers and Carl Newman found the target before Whitland finally opened their account in the 25th minute with a good try for winger Aled Jones that owed much to some excellent handling by hooker Mark Jones as he grasped a low pass in the build-up.

Emyr Williams’ conversion attempt hit the upright and so Whitland led 5-3 after a tight first period.

The home side created the first score of the second half when winger Robert Thomas was put in the clear and Newman added the extra points to give Whitland a wake-up call which they duly accepted as centre Lee Glanville made the initial break, man of the match Mark Jones was also involved and prop Gareth Lloyd crashed over for Emyr Williams to convert.

Whitland made sure that they maintained their momentum and applied sufficient pressure for Emyr Williams to notch his penalty and then dropped a goal which finally sealed matters in the Borderers’ favour and made sure that Bonymaen failed to pick up even a bonus point for their considerable part in a tough tussle.

Whitland: Carwyn Jones, Aled Jones; Lee Glanville, Gary Evans, Gareth Morris, Emyr Williams, Gareth Davies, Gareth Lloyd, Mark Jones, Alan Proctor, Tom Dinan, Carwyn Davies, Gareth Downes, Jack Mason, Randall Williams (Capt). Replacements: Gareth Williams, Rhun Morgan, Gavin Walsh, James Davies, Dan Mason.