EBBW Vale went down to their first defeat of the season after being comprehensively beaten by in-form Llandovery at Church Bank, writes Huw S Thomas.

Suffering from the absence of influential skipper and lock Damien Hudd in both tight and loose, the Steelmen could never dominate up front for the first time this season.

Llandovery fielded some very exciting backs, with no fewer than five players having represented Wales at sevens and their sharpness and invention proved key to the home win.

"We could not cope with the pace and directness of the Llandovery backs" said Ebbw coach Nigel Davies.

"Their counter attacking was terrific but we will work hard at our game in all spheres and bounce back" added the former Gloucester coach.

For the first 40 minutes play was fairly even with the Ebbw pack under lock Ashley Sweet winning their share of possession and they forced a series of line out drives which all but brought a score.

Prop Rob Sevenoaks was lucky to stay on the pitch after landing a punch on Llandovery scrum half Lee Rees and referee Whitehouse had his hands full at ruck and maul in a full blooded contest.

Home fly half Jack Maynard was denied a try by a great last ditch tackle by Ebbw centre Dom Franchi and wing Aaron Warren slalomed his way 60 yards upfield before flanker Stuart Worrall was engulfed by the cover.

Llandovery prop Greg Cunniffe was yellow carded in the 34 th minute for a late tackle on scrum half Luc Jones and expectations were high that the Steelmen could take the lead.

But in an astonishing five minute period when they were down to 14 men, the Llandovery backs ran in three tries.

Full back Will Thomas accelerated away from despairing tacklers to leave Maynard stroke over the conversion and two minutes later, Thomas fed Warren on the blind side for the lanky winger cross wide out.

Centre Rhodri Jones won the race for the touchdown of a bobbing ball, Maynard converting for a 22-0 half time lead.

Ebbw rang the changes to get back into the game but Llandovery claimed the bonus point when flanker Stuart Worrall drove over from close range.

Ebbw were stunned and despite the valiant efforts of back rowers Harrison Keddie and Luke Crocker , they could not stem the Llandovery tide of confidence,

Warren again, replacement Jake Baker and flanker Richard Rees all swept through to seal a classy win for the rampant Drovers.

Llandovery: W Thomas; R Gealy (R Wall 67), M Jacobs, R Jones (C Woodall 59), A Warren; J Maynard, L Rees (R Davies 63); W Jones (D Howells 53), L Lewis (capt) (D Hughes 63), G Cunniffe (B Watkins 63), B Griffiths (M Harbut 57), P Day (J Baker 67), R Rees (B Watkins 34 – 40), R Brooks, S Worrall

Ebbw Vale: J Rosser; S Jones (D Haymond 22-27 and h/t), N Preece, D Franchi (J Howells 31), T Watkins; I Smerdon, L Jones (C Thomas 60); I George (R Jones 44), R Buckley(J Franchi 47), R Sevenoaks (L Leddington 49); J Bartlett, A Sweet (capt) (R Clarke 47), L Crocker, H Keddie, R Kynes (C Reagan 44)

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Gower)

Ebbw Man of the Match: Luke Crocker