Hard fought victory on Dinas Common (From Barry And District News)

Hard fought victory on Dinas Common

DINAS POWYS 33 PTS

LLANHILLETH 22 PTS

THE VILLAGERS entertained old rivals from Gwent, Llanhilleth on the Common, and a hard fought game was won 33-22.

It was the first meeting for a couple of years between the clubs, with Dinas Powys a division above their Gwent rivals.

The Villagers fielded their strongest side for a while, with Dean Greck returning to full-back following injury, and long-term injury victim Jason Allen coming on at half-time to make a big impact in The Villagers quest for cup glory.

The Common was wet after early morning rain, but by kick-off time the sun had come out and the biggest weather element was the strong wind on the Common.

The Villagers applied early pressure to the Llanhilleth defence and after just three minutes outside-half Mark Cox slotted over a penalty for a 3-0 lead. K Rees drew the scores level with a penalty after seven minutes and further penalties in the 16th and 18th minutes gave the visitors a 9-3 lead.

Within two minutes, the Villagers hit back with a try when centre and captain Rhodri Davies broke through the Llanhilleth defence to score. Mark Cox failed with the conversion attempt to leave Llanhilleth one point ahead. Another penalty was slotted over by K Rees after 26 minutes to increase the visitors lead to 12-8.

The Villagers regained the lead after 33 minutes when forward power saw hooker Nick Veggas get the touch-down. Mark Cox converted from the touch-line to give Dinas a 15-12 lead, but it proved short lived as Llanhilleth hit back with a try of their own through S Hopkins. Outside-half K Rees was again on target to put the Gwent side 19-15 ahead at half-time.

Dinas regained the lead six minutes into the second half when full-back Dean Greck made a decisive break and Jamie Kroll showed his strength to crash over for a try.

Within three minutes, though, Llanhilleth again had the edge when K Rees landed his fifth penalty for an overall total of 17 points.

This proved to be Llanhilleth's last score of the game and The Villagers never looked back from the moment that Mark Cox was given a straightforward penalty chance in front of the posts to regain the lead.

Steve Thomas, playing for the first time this season, showed his electric pace to cut open the Llanhilleth defence and score following an opening created by skipper Rhodri Davies.

Mark Cox added the conversion to give Dinas an unassailable 30-22. The scoring was completed when Mark added another penalty in the 69th minute for a final score of 33-22.

This was a good performance by the home side who did enough to win fairly comfortably against their visitors from Gwent and progress to the next round of the cup.

As the club continues to improve, fortunes in Division Two East will improve and wins are just around the corner.

The club will go from strength to strength as injured and unavailable players return. It should not be too long before the club can again field two sides on a Saturday.

The Youth entertained a strong Llantwit Major side at Parc Bryn-y-Don, and were the victims of a heavy defeat against their older rivals.

The Youth side will improve and as results have shown they are more competitive than in their first season since being relaunched.

The club sent a Vets side to Bradford-Upon-Avon last Saturday, and they came away with a fine 24-12 win, a result which must have benefited the local hostelries considerably.

This weekend the Firsts travel to top of the table Merthyr Tydfil for a Division Two East clash and with renewed confidence, following the cup win, can hope for a repeat of the last time the clubs met, when The Villagers recorded one of their most famous cup victories on their way to meeting Cardiff.