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The under 13s travelled to Narberth today short of 8 or 9 regular starters. However we had Ieaun and Ben who have transferred from the Quins making their regular season debuts, Owain playing his 1st game since tag rugby and welcomed Iestyn back so plenty of positives as far as player introductions and comebacks.

We started pretty slowly today and a few mistakes led to 2 early Narberth scores. We hit back immediately with a try by Iestyn after incredible work by Ieaun in stealing a turnover and crashing his way close to the line before further carries by skipper Tristan and Owain created the momentum for Iestyn to power his way over. Harry added the conversion and we were back in the game. Narberth came back strongly despite Ben going close in the top corner when carrying a few players within touching distance of the line and we went into half time a few tries adrift. The 2nd half was a more physical affair from our point of view and we spent much of the time in the Narberth half. Unfortunately we let them escape the pressure we had steadily built to score a couple of long range breakaway tries which hurt us. However we stayed in the fight and fronted up. Ewan went very close a few times proving to be a very direct threat with the ball. Austin was held up after beating 3 players on the smallest of blind sides from a scrum, Ieaun again smashed his way close and Harry and Trystan made good hard yards from quick ball supplied by scrum half Gethin who had a very encouraging 2nd half. We won a large number of penalties in the 2nd half from the pressure we put Narberth under through the work of Ieaun and Iestyn at rucks and Harry and Luffy chasing kicks and timing their tackles and jackals superbly. This pressure enabled Iestyn to cross for 2 more tries after he took quick taps and powered his way over to complete his hat trick. We had some very good individual performances today. Ieaun was a revelation at ruck time and tackled hard and accurately and was a real force when carrying the ball. Ben has worked very hard on his strength and conditioning and this was evident with his volume of work and willingness to carry ball, hit rucks and tackle. Owain looks like he's been playing contact rugby for years and brings a physical edge to the team. Tristan made several telling interventions when carrying ball, stealing ball at ruck time and especially when ripping the ball from opposition ball carriers. Ewan was, as he always is, a class act whether it be easily beating would be tacklers, making tackles or chasing kicks and has real pace to burn. Trystan O was a physical presence and put some hard yards in when man handling players in rucks or whenever the ref had his back turned. Luffy put in his best defensive performance to date. A guy normally known for his long range try highlights reel proved how hard he's worked on the other facets of his game and can be very proud of himself. Gethin worked hard to keep us moving forward with quick service from set pieces and rucks and came into his own in the 2nd half when putting pressure on Narberth several times and releasing Austin in a well thought out blindside attack. Austin picked up where he left off last season with his amazing never say die attitude to throwing himself in harms way in defence against much bigger players and coming within an inch of scoring a remarkable try after beating 3 players on inches of space. Harry made some good line breaks in the 1st half going close in the far corner and wom a crucial penalty on the 2nd half that resulted in a try. Player of the match today was Iestyn who was the best player on the pitch despite playing on the losing side. He made 29 tackles, won turnovers, kicked intelligently and then won the ball back from his own kicks and scored 3 tries. A welcome return to action.

The final score flattered Narberth and truth be told we handed them a lot of their try scoring opportunities through our mistakes. The most important thing is that we had a Llangwm team out there today who gave it their all when so many other local teams have unfortunately folded after the pandemic hit sports participation. We also have a number of players to come back into the squad. We have plenty to work in on training in the coming weeks but with the right attitude and dedication we'll get 15 on the field with reserves and start getting the results the players deserve.

Marc Davies