Mountain Ash 24 - Llantrisant 27

In glorious conditions at Parc Dyffryn Pennar, the large crowd were treated to a superb contest between the Old Firm and Llantrisant with the result in doubt right up to the final kick of the match. Ian Worgan who had been a constant thorn in the Mount side all afternoon stole the points for his team with a 40 metre penalty goal as Mount's indiscretions finally caught up with them. The home side had twice got themselves into a winning position but they gave away far too many penalties that Worgan took full advantage of to chip away at Mount's lead. The hosts started at a blistering pace that resulted in a great opening try for Dale Keepins converted by Nick Griffiths who also added a penalty to cancel out an earlier Worgan effort as Mount led by 10 points to 3.Some of the the black and ambers play was quite outstanding but much of their good work was undone as they failed to make the most of many chances that came their way. The visitors took the lead with a converted try by centre John Williams and a further penalty from Worgan but, right on the stroke of half time new captain Chris Edmunds was on hand to finish off another great Mount attack that Griffiths converted from the touchline for a 17 -13 lead. A thrilling counter from their own line saw Mount go the length of the field but were thwarted just yards from the tryline. They were not to be denied for long however as Gavin Roberts, Matthew Dixon, Jon Lock and Keepins combined for Scott Davies to finish off a blistering move that Griffiths converted as Mount pulled away at 24 -13. At this stage it seemed that the home side would run out comfortable winners but full credit to Llantrisant who refused to panic and with the penalty count rapidly rising against the Old Firm , Worgan fired over two before prop Robert Davies powered over from a lineout to level it at 24 all. Both sides were now tiring, not surprising given the effort put in, and Mount had a golden opportunity to go back into the lead but Griffiths' penalty shot flew just wide. Then, wit h the last act of this pulsating game, Worgan calmly slotted over the winning kick for a personal match haul of 17 points to snatch the victory for Llantrisant.


Mountain Ash Athletic kicked off their season with a hard earned 15 -10 win at Nelson with tries from Craig Roberts and Lee Keepins with Nicholas Bennett adding a penalty and conversion. Mount Youth also started with a win , beating visitors Tonyrefail by 31 points to 12.They crossed for 5 tries through Nathan Treharne, James Cole, Josh Cartwright, Scot Bennett and Ethan Davies with Josh Williams adding 3 conversions