Played in warm spring Cardiff sunshine that perfectly suited their running instincts, the Warriors were able to triumph in this entertaining fixture against Gwladrugby.com.
Although the Warrior have been unable to put out a settled line up this season they were able to field a strong side for only their 3rd ever visit to the Capital. The home side were also forced into a late reshuffle so both sides had several untried combinations.
The game maintained a quick pace throughout and although the Warriors started better they fell behind to two long range effort as the home team put together some sweeping moves. Kevin Robbins was the Gwald teamâ€™s main threat and they got tries through Drew and ex London Welsh scrum half Dan Red, neither of which they converted. This seemed to give the home team confidence and they came more into the game, roles were reversed and it was now the Warriors having to attack from distance. Richard Pegler finally got a score for the Warriors but when Gwlad scored a third try, a swerve, step and sprint from wing Donnelly, and things began to look ominous for the Llanelli side.
The packs enjoyed a good battle up front with John Horwood and Richard Evans doing well and Jon Kerr managed to urge his troops to new efforts. They got back in the game with a slightly fortuitous try when a mix up between Humphries and Thomas in the Gwlad backline allowed Parker to pounce on the loose ball as it rolled over the line. With Kerr improving it gave the Warriors hope for the second half.
Even when Gwlad got further ahead through a try and conversion from Robert Eirwg the Warriors seemed to sense they were still in the game. They hit back with a try from the top draw. The back row worked Jones into space from a scrum in their own 22 and using the support runners as foils he weaved his way to the try line. This score put the game truly back in the balance and a huge spring in the Warriors step. Darren Politt had a dancing run down the wing whilst flankers Williams and Lelli both did well. Burly centre Alun Stephensâ€™ strong running made a try for mobile prop Colin Talcon which saw the Warriors finally go ahead. In such an open game both sides realised it was all to play for but it was the Warriors who literally got the bounce of the ball, a hack ahead looked to be safely in the hands of Mackenzie but it bobbled into the lap of on running Jones who just beat the cover to the line to secure the win for Llanelli.
For Gwlad, Dafydd Oliver didnâ€™t deserve to be on the losing side and some of the forwards proved powerful around the field whilst the Warriors had Cross and Jenkins in good form.
With both sides and the referee being positive throughout it proved an excellent encounter which also raised monies for various rugby charities. The success of the fixture can be measured in that it has already been written into the fixtures list for next term as an integral part of the international weekend.
Warriors: Joshua Crowther, Neil Parker, Richard Pegler, Alun Stephens, Richard Evans (Darren Pollitt), Jason Cross, Mathew Jones, Adrian Williams (Richard Lelli), Jason Jenkins, Jason Bennett (Colin Talcon, Huw Jenkins), John Horwood, Roger Thomas, Jonathan Kerr, Gwilym Lewis, Lee Rowlands.
For fuller details of the day visit the match blog: http://llanelliwarriorsmatchreports.blogspot.com/2009/03/gwlad-regional-select-22-llanelli.html