Fixture

Glynneath having had a fantastic season so far, promotion confirmed on Saturday without playing a game travelled to the Principality Stadium against highly fancied Wanderers and nearly stunned the West Wales side only to lose to a late penalty after fighting back to tie the game 19-19 . Amazingly Glynneath although enjoying their fair bit of possession failed to enter the Llanelli 22 in the first half !! It was Llanelli who drew first blood when stealing Glynneath’s ball on the ground they attacked out wide and a clever reverse pass inside by Nick Gale saw second row Steffan Phillips snap up the bouncing ball to go over unopposed. Gale adding the conversion . Glynneath’s Dylan Francis pulled three points back with a well struck forty metre penalty.The Wanderers were lucky not to be down to fourteen men when James Parry was hit high by the Llanelli number eight , the Tmo check complete they stayed at full complement. It was 15 minutes before the first scrum and Glynneath seemed to have the edge.Llanelli scrum half Josh Weeds looked lively through out the game and his pressure on his opposing number led to a penalty by Gale for a deliberate knock on stopping a promising move by the Wanderers.Glynneaths best move of the half came just before half time when a side stepping run by full back Jordan Griffiths saw a desperate tackle on the touchline stop the move and when the ball was recycled it moved quickly along the line and a high tackle on wing Aled Evans prevented any further progress into the Wanderers 22. Dylan Francis fired over the penalty to keep Glynneath in the game as the half came to a close .In the early minutes of the second half Gale had a chance to increase his sides lead but pulled his kick wide.Minutes later Dylan Francis slotted over his fourth penalty to put his side to within a point.Gale was back on target again with a penalty of his own.A late tackle on Dylan Francis after he put in an excellent clearance kick should have resulted in a card but the referee seemed reluctant to go to his pocket. He had no hesitation to finally punish Llanelli who had no answer to Glynneath’s catch and drive from a few line outs in their 22 losing a player after coming in from the side to stop a promising drive Glynneath held up over the line .A great try saving tackle near their line by Glynneath’s Dylan Francis kept their line intact but Gale fired over another penalty to increase his sides lead .Glynneath finally got the try they deserved when after Jayden Burton was stopped short of the line in the corner Glynneath kept the ball alive and after pounding the Llanelli line Calim Bowen went over for the score . Dylan Francis with yet another excellent kick put his side level for an exciting last eight minutes . It was a credit to both sides defensive efforts that restricted the game to one try apiece. Five minutes from the end Glynneath failing to clear their lines were penalised and Gale punished them with another successful kick . Back came Glynneath and some storming runs by Craig Tennant had Llanelli in all sorts of trouble.It was Glynneath who finished the stronger and were unlucky not to get another score that their effort deserved but they did the club proud with an amazing performance. Full time Llanelli Wanderers 21 Glynneath 19