LLANELLI 41 NEWPORT 17

NEWPORT suffered another away-day to forget at the western end of the M4, going down to Llanelli in their last league game of the season by five tries to two at Parc y Scarlets.

After losing to bottom club Swansea it was always going to be a difficult afternoon at play-off hunting Llanelli, and so it proved. It did not help that the Black and Ambers, who had nothing to play for, trailed 24-3 at half-time having conceded three converted tries.

They did come back in the second half with a penalty try and a try for lock Dafydd Rosser but it was too little, too late.

In the dull, dank conditions the early rugby in this contest all but replicated the weather. There was not much entertainment as both sides made a string of errors in the opening 10 minutes.

So it was no surprise that the opening try came from a mistake. Newport wing Elliott Frewen spilled the ball by halfway and Llanelli’s Nic Reynolds was there to pick up and run in under the posts for outside-half Jordan Williams to convert.

Newport recovered to win a penalty from a scrum inside Llanelli’s 22, which centre Geraint O’Driscoll kicked to cut Llanelli’s lead to four points on 16 minutes.

Right from the restart, however, Williams cancelled that score out with his own penalty and the home side led 10-3.

And it was Williams who created Llanelli’s second try. His clever kick to the left corner was collected by wing Dale Ford, who slid over as Llanelli opened up a 17-3 lead on 23 minutes.

A good scrum on the five-metre line looked as if Newport would score their first try but, as the visitors rumbled to the line, scrum-half Andrew Quick found himself isolated and Llanelli were able to rescue the situation.

Five minutes from half-time Llanelli scored their third try and their best when Dan Thomas ran in after a 40 metre break by wing Kristian Phillips through midfield.

It took just three minutes of the second half for Llanelli to secure the bonus point with a fourth try and a second for Ford, who skinned O’Driscoll on the outside.

And there was a fifth try for fellow wing Kristian Phillips before Newport countered with a penalty try from a five metre scrum.

To their credit Newport did not throw in the towel and produced a second try for Rosser, who squeezed in at the left corner.

Llanelli: D Jones; K Phillips (S Hughes 72), N Reynolds (A Killa 75), C Keenan (J Lewis 54), D Ford; J Williams, J James; R Thomas (T Sloane 65), K Myhill (C Hawkins 53), A Hopkins (B Leung 53), A Powell (capt), N White (L Rawlings 78), D Eager (S Leach 65), C Price, D Thomas.

Scorers – tries: N Reynolds, D Ford (2), D Thomas, K Phillips; pens: J Williams (2) cons: J Williams (5).

Newport: J Leadbeater; E Frewen, G O’Driscoll, W Richards, A Awcock (W Hodnett 75); T Hancock (O Broad 56), A Quick; D Pattison (J Jeune 60), A Brown (D Rogers 65), G Robinson (capt, A Jeffries), D Rosser, R Jones (J Sullivan 60), B Lampitt, R Coombs (I Jones h-t), C Atwell (O Griffiths 51).

Scorers – tries: pen try, D Rosser; pen: G O’Driscoll; cons: G O’Driscoll (2).

Referee: Ian Davies (Porthcawl)