Last Saturday, Llandybie travelled to Fall Bay looking for their second win of the season. This turned out to be a classic ‘game of two halves’ as there was a strong end-to-end wind on a cold but dry afternoon.

Llandybie played with the wind in the first half and went into an early lead with a well taken penalty from Dafydd Wyn Jones. This was followed up with a well worked try, again by Dafydd Wyn Jones, following a fine break with him exploiting a gap in the Fall Bay defence from the 22 which he converted – giving Llandybie an early 10-0 lead.

After some pressure, Fall Bay had their first points with a penalty which was quickly followed by a try which was converted enabling Fall Bay to draw level at 10-10 after some 15 minutes. Llandybie continued to apply pressure with the strong wind at their back with a second try from Dafydd Wyn Jones following a line out and a good drive by the forwards with help from the backs. This was again converted with a fine kick from Dafydd Wyn Jones and giving Llandybie a lead of 17-10.

The Llandybie pack struggled in the scrums, but some robust tackling enabled a number of turnovers with some good ball carrying by Ryan Davies, Konnor Davies and Jac Gordon enabling Llandybie to continue to apply pressure. Steff Jones provided quick ball to the Llandybie backs and the pressure resulted in a third try for Llandybie when Rhys Jones went over for a try following an interception converted again by Dafydd Wyn Jones – taking his points tally to 17. Llandybie deservedly led 24-10 at half time.

The second half was a completely different story. Fall Bay regrouped and used the wind to their advantage with long kicks into the Llandybie half keeping the visitors under sustained pressure. Despite Llandybie improving in the scrums, Fall Bay applied continuous pressure resulting in a converted try reducing the gap to 7 points. Llandybie did put some pressure on the home team with some good ball carrying from the forwards, but Fall Bay scored their 4th try to level the scores at 24-24 in the 70th minute.

Fall Bay used the wind to their advantage with some good kicking into the corner – pinning back Llandybie in their own 22. As a result of this pressure, Fall Bay became dominant and scored their fifth try after some good play by their backs which was converted and finished with a further try a few minutes later to give a final score of Fall Bay 38-24 Llandybie.

A disappointing result for Llandybie but the Fall Bay half backs used the wind in the second half to great advantage and, probably, better then Llandybie had in the first half. Llandybie should, however, take encouragement from some good periods of play.

Llandybie’s Man of the Match was scrum-half Steff Jones who made some good breaks and provided swift service for his backs. Llandybie now look forward to the next match against local rivals Penybanc next Saturday.