Fixture

St Clears RFC | 1st Team 3 - 17 Whitland RFC | 1st Team
James Davies
Penalty 1

Match Report
29 December 2017 / Team News

Home to Whitland 30/12/2017

The return match against local rivals Whitland was only cleared for play by the referee shortly before the kick off and with conditions marginal and a strong wind in the home side’s favour the visitors started proceedings in front a very good crowd of both sets of supporters, all happy to see the rematch get under way, with Whitland’s success earlier in the season still fresh in everyone’s mind  in the keenly contested 31 points to 10 victory for the Borderers in the first encounter.

With the confident visitors starting as strong favourites they began much the stronger, putting the home side on the back foot from the start, but they were unable to break through Saints solid defence until 25 minutes into the game when the inevitable try resulted from lively scrum half Adam Davies, converted by number 10, Nico Setaro, after a spell of repeated attacks with the home side unable to relieve the territorial pressure. Indeed what appeared to be a good try five minutes earlier had already been disallowed for an incorrect grounding so the score line could have been worse.

In one of the rare visits into opposition territory, centre James Davies kicked a penalty for the home side and with the visitor’s usually reliable kicker, Nico Setaro, having an ‘off day’, Saints were pleased to go into the half time break only four points down.

With twenty minutes remaining, when further scoring was beginning to look unlikely with Saints having much more of the game but without any real penetration beyond the visitor’s 22, a scrum produced the platform for the borderer’s number 9 Adam Davies to record his second try, reacting quickest with a sniping run which took him through two tackles for a decisive score, with the extras added this time with a good conversion by Setaro, to allow some relief for the visitors with a score line of 14 points to three.

Ten minutes later an easy penalty in front of the posts effectively settled matters at 17 – 3 and despite a spirited rally from Saints in the last 15 minutes, when at least a consolation score and perhaps even more looked quite likely, with their forwards pounding the visitors try line in added time, they could not break down the diehard defence.

Overall an enjoyable local derby, keenly contested once again in the best of spirits with clear evidence of the continued progress being made by the hosts on and off the field and a good opportunity to showcase the new facilities, which although not quite finished, allowed an excellent day’s enjoyment, clearly appreciated by all!

Players