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Llantwit Major RFC ran in five tries as they gained another bonus point in an emphatic win at home in this league fixture against Ynysowen who prior to the game were placed fourth in the league.

The try count worth further praise due to the ground conditions where the recent snow and heavy rain made the ground considerably heavy and produced yet another game with a mud caked ball.
As the game kicked off with Llantwit facing the School End some spectators had not made it out of the clubhouse before the home side had racked up seven points. The first try coming from a lovely set of passing in the three-quarters after the forwards had put them in a good field position. And the backs didn’t need to be asked twice as they quickly spread the ball putting full back Bradley Morgan to race over for an unconverted try.
Ynysowen who unfortunately requested uncontested scrums prior to kick off are a pretty resilient team and quickly fought back and despite being only able to field the bare fifteen players they began to run the ball back at the home side, forcing Llantwit back towards the clubhouse on several attempts at field position but this is a maturing Llantwit side and they comfortably soaked up the pressure before looking to push Ynysowen into the corners. And one such position gained a penalty for Howley to quickly boot over and extend their lead.
And it wasn’t long before Llantwit were back on the scoresheet, after a length period of possession in the Ynysowen 22 a beautiful set pieces from a scrum saw Steff Godwin at nine whisked the ball back to Howley who set off on a lovely run and with centre Josh Austin and wing Joel Thomas running great angles on dummy runs. With Ynysowen bamboozled Howley threw a lovely weighted pass out wide to Rhys Balmont who had come off his other line and was lurking deep to collect and scamper over for an unconverted try. The score at half time 8-0.
The second half started with a reversal in fortune as Ynysowen were the first on the score sheet with a well taken converted try after a series of forward drives saw a tight forward barge over.
Llantwit though after some stern talking to by skipper Geraint David soon got back on track and constantly pressured their opponents with strong forwards runs coupled with spreading the ball when ever possible in order to tire and already tiring Ynysowen pack.
The tactic soon paying off as after a lengthy period of Llantwit possession and some quick rucking by the pack put the away side defence in tatters. Howley spotting a gap broke the line and then with some classy footwork chipped the covering full-back and on recovering is kick raced and dived in, as is the want with these flashy backs spectacularly, between the posts. Howley following up with his own conversion to suck the life out of the visitors and put any revival firmly to bed.
The rest of the half then become a comfortable workout for Llantwit as they began using their bench and increased the tempo on their opponents, who had no replacements. It was therefore not long before the home side were once again on the scoresheet with Balmont getting his second after some great interchanging between forwards again backs put the speedster away. The try converted by Howley.
The final say going once again to Balmont as he capped another fine performance in racking up his third try and taking his tally for the season to thirteen and naturally also Man of the Match. Further mention must go to flanker Donovan Stoppel who put in a normal workman like performance in sadly his last game for the club as he heads home to South Africa. Donovan has been a stalwart in the team and the club with his big personality and will be sadly missed and the club would like to wish him all the best in the future.
With the final weekend of the Six Nations this Saturday there is no game until next week when the Llantonians travel to Tonyrefail. The clubhouse will be open for all the Super Saturday Internationals with the two bars and function room showing the games. And afterwards local band The Shameless will be taking festivities well into the night.