It was try fest time at the Wern in what turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining Premiership encounter. In recent years these two teams have produced some very high scoring affairs and it was much the same again on Saturday. 7 tries for the home side with Llanelli contributing 4 themselves to earn a well deserved try losing bonus point.
Merthyr opened their scoring in the first minute. Llanelli lost their lineout on their opponents 10m line, the ball was swiftly moved across the line, full back Ben Jones slipped offload inside to supporting wing Alex Webber who touched down.
Merthyr 5 -0 Llanelli
The fullback added a penalty on 8 mins, and then in shortly after Llanelli lost the put in at the scrum and from the ensuing phases second row Callum Bradbury crossed the home side’s second try.
Merthyr 13 – 0 Llanelli
On 14 mins Llanelli got on the scoreboard when skipper Nathan Hart was on hand to finish off some fine forward drives with their first try of the game.
Merthyr 13 – 5 Llanelli
Flanker Paddy McBride was next to score for the home side. A missed touch line kick was picked up by no.10 Gareth Davies who made good ground and offloaded to Mcbride for the score, conversion added by Ben Jones. (18mins)
Merthyr 20 – 5 Llanelli.
Llanelli then missed a golden opportunity to score their second try but a fine break by wing Harrison Button saw his inside pass being knocked on with the try line a begging! On 28 mins they did get their try though. Following a 5m lineout Ellis Thomas scored from the ensuing drives.
Merthyr 20 – 10 Llanelli
For the remainder of the half it was the visitors who were pressing for the next score. A yellow card was issued to a Merthyr prop deep in their own 22m area in front of the posts. The visitors went for the line out rather than an easy 3point penalty. They lost the lineout and the opportunity was missed.
At the half Merthyr 20 – 10 Llanelli
On a very windy and cold afternoon the players came out for the second period but in fairness given the conditions played out some excellent rugby for both sets of supporters.
On 46 mins Merthyr got their bonus point try was centre Aaron Pinches crossed under the post following some good work by outside half Gareth Davies, Jones added the extras.
Merthyr 27 – 10 Llanelli
Then a scrum near half way saw Llanelli scrum half Luke Davies go blind, fed wing Harrison Button who showed great pace to beat the cover defence – a really well worked try!
Merthyr 27 – 15 Llanelli ( 54mins)
Merthyr then added two further tries on 60 & 70 mins to secure the result. Replacements wing Ashley Norton then hooker Rhys Williams crossed and with Jones slotting one conversation the score line was Merthyr 39 – Llanelli 15
In the final moments Merthyr got their 7 try following some end to end play. Fullback Ben Jones scored with replacement Gareth Thompson adding the conversion. Right from the restart, the home side knocked on, wing Amir Jiwa Walji picked up the loose ball and scampered un opposed under the sticks. Outside half Josh Phillips added the extras.
Final score Merthyr 46 – 22 Llanelli