RUGBY ROUND-UP

As Crymych continued to fight for League 1 West survival, the north Pembrokeshire villagers put up a gritty showing before going down 44-39 against champions-elect Felinfoel in Llanelli.

The visitors had the consolation of picking up two bonus points for being within seven points of their opponents and scoring five tries.

Those points, together with third from bottom Kidwelly going down 46-14 at Aberystwyth, took the Preselimen to within six points of safety. Rhys 'Beaky' Davies and team-mates have games in hand on Kidwelly, Llanelli Wanderers and Tenby United, the latter set to visit Parc Lloyd Thomas this Saturday.

As well as the Tenby game Crymych will be looking to bank points from the visits of Kidwelly and bottom of the pile Tycroes.

Crymych must have wondered how they let matters slip after a first half blitzkrieg performance that saw them go in at the break leading 22-10.

When the visitors increased their advantage with a try early in the second period it looked all over bar the shouting.

As Davies and colleagues outplayed their hosts tries came via centre Carwyn Phillips who bagged a brace, hooker Lee Griffiths, winger Lawrence Headlam and a penalty try.

Jake Jenkins converted two of the scores and landed two penalties.

For the homesters there were tries for centre Joel Hutchins, who crossed twice, flanker Connor Ford, lock Jordan Evans, replacements Glen Williams and Mathew Moore and a penalty try with outside half Aled Roberts landing two conversions and a penalty.

Newcastle Emlyn brought down the curtain on a mixed season in the Championship with a 50-39 defeat against fifth-placed Newbridge in a thrilling and exciting contest at Ddol Wyber.

For Emlyn, scrum-half Mike Jones went in for two tries and there were scores for skipper and usual hooker Alex Williams playing as a flanker, winger Dan Davies and lock Bleddyn Davies with outside half Mitchell Jones landing three conversions and two penalties.

The visitors got tries through winger Rory Budina (2), skipper and lock Anthony Simmonds, centre Scott Williams, No. 8 Andrew Hughes, scrum-half Owen Clemett (2) and outside half Simon Veal with Eamon Rees landing four conversions.

There was a time when Cardigan could justifiably claim to be one of the leading lights on the local circuit, but the halcyon days appear long gone after the King George V Playing field men crashed 92-12 in a League 3 West A game at the Observatory Ground in Milford Haven.

Cardigan could not put together a full complement of players and were outclassed virtually throughout the 80 minutes.

The Mariners, who led 52-0 after the opening 40 minutes, went in for 14 tries, which included a hat-trick for Dai Sweeny and Lee Riley, a brace apiece for Jamie Lewis and David Round and also on the scoreboard were Ben Groves, Craig Thomas and Craig Bennett while scrum-half Dan McClelland racked up 25 points from a try and ten conversions.

Gruff Lewis got two tries for the visitors, one of the scores converted by Iwan Jones.