LACKLUSTRE Ebbw Vale can have few complaints after letting a 13-point lead slip to crash out of the cup to Swansea.

As usual Vale's pack had their moments, but as a team they lacked direction and they failed to gain any real territorial dominance.

Their kicking game was poor and that meant they couldn't make the most of a rolling maul that worked superbly all afternoon long, while there was a lack of precision and power in the backs.

And yet they could so easily have been reflecting on an unspectacular victory, and with Vale leading 16-3 with 64 minutes on the clock it seemed extremely unlikely that Swansea would be heading back west thinking about potential round seven opponents.

But the All Whites showed tremendous spirit and crossed for two tries in the last 16 minutes to allow full back Ricky Williams, who had missed 13 points worth of kicks, to win the game with a penalty.

Vale head coach Alex Codling said: "There is no doubt that we deserved to lose, and in truth it was a result that has been coming for a few weeks.

"We had a few chances but the bottom line is that Swansea were the better team and we got our just deserts.

"The forwards performed well on the whole but you can't win a game purely on the back of your set piece.

"There are boys in the squad who have been used to struggling at the bottom of the table a lot of the time, and now they are having to come to terms with different struggles and different types of pressures."

Vale started the first half well and put plenty of early pressure on the visitors' line, but it soon descended into a scrappy half dominated by knocks-ons and the whistle of referee Keri Evans.

Outside-half Sam Mills helped himself to three penalties as Swansea struggled to cope with Vale's rolling maul but the visitors weren't really put under any pressure close to their own line.

When a side possesses one of the best lineout-stealers in the game in the shape of Neil Edwards it is odd not to try and unleash him in the opposition's 22.

Vale were, however, defending superbly and all the visitors could manage in the first half was a Williams penalty in injury time.

The hosts stepped it up in the second half and nearly scored the opening try when winger Andrew Bevan was put through, only to lose his footing as he tried to wrong-foot the last man.

Bevan will be wondering whether he should have put more faith in his own speed and pinned back his ears to go for the corner.

However, they didn't have to wait long for the score and it came from a pushover try while Swansea were down to 14 men, Marc Popham sin-binned for yet another offence at the maul.

Codling's instructions to kick a penalty to the corner were heeded and Ian George made sure they took advantage of the extra man.

But from there it unravelled. First David Watts burst through some weak Vale tackling on 64 minutes to score under the posts, showing good hands to pick up a Barnes Wallis-style pass from his scrum-half.

Then he broke through before timing his pass to Leigh Bevan perfectly to allow the right-winger a simple run in.

Vale were leading by a single point, and when they dragged a maul down on 72 minutes Williams was able to make up for his previous errors with the boot.

Going out of the cup is by no means the end of the world for a Vale side chasing what would be a remarkable title victory - cliche fans will be delighted they can concentrate on the league.

Next up is a crucial game at Pontypridd, but Vale haven't become a poor side overnight and if they can focus on the basics that propelled them to the top of the Premiership table then they will be fine.

Ebbw Vale: A McLaughlan, S Hunt, K Owen, J Hawker, A Bevan, S Mills, B Shelbourne (P Horgan 72), I George, R Williams, K Gay (J Cross 80), M Griffin, N Edwards, J Bowd (captain, J Lydiate 72), G Donaldson (C Cleaver 62), H Jenkins.

Scorers: Try - I George (55), conversion - S Mills (55), penalties - S Mills (7, 16, 31).

Swansea: R Williams, L Bevan, C Shelmerdine, R Payne, N Jones, D Watts, J Hooper, L May, A James, C Williams, D Lloyd-Jones, N Thomas (captain), H Singh, B Lewis, S Edwards (M Popham 40). Scorers: Tries - D Watts, L Bevan; conversions - R Williams; penalties - R Williams (2).

Referee: Keri Evans.