Ebbw Vale 38 Llandovery 29, Super Rygbi Cymru, 28/09/2024

Ebbw Vale secured a superb bonus-point victory over last year's Premiership Champions, Llandovery, in what was the Steelmen's best display of the season to date.

The home side got off to a flyer, clearly rattled by the previous week's defeat at Cardiff. Following an early Drovers penalty, a Vale scrum led to a neat first phase move where Evan Lloyd passed Ethan Phillips into space who broke through the line to cross unhindered, Lloyd converted.

A missed midfield pass by the visitors led to a speedy kick and chase from Ewan Bowden, who skilfully managed the gather to cross near the posts, Lloyd added more extras.

Of course, a side as talented as Llandovery was always going to hit back and they did; an unconverted try from Aaron Warren, and a seven pointer from Taylor Davies where Jack Maynard added the 2 points to go with his earlier success.

The half finished with Ebbw back on top. Rolling maul pressure sucked in defenders and so scrum half Jonathan Evans put the back line on alert and some smart handling saw Bowden add a second. Lloyd converted to make it 22-15 at the interval.

After the restart, Lloyd was able to extend Ebbw's lead with two penalties and were always threatening. A quick tap and go from Evans saw him beat the retreating defence and cross for the bonus point try. Lloyd once again converting.

The Drovers were not done and looked to have secured a losing point with two converted tries in quick succession from Evan Sheldon and Lee Rees to make it 35-29.

The match ended with the home side on top once again and were unlucky not to score a fifth try, but had to settle for another successful Lloyd attempt, adding a further 3 points to make the final score 38-29, with five points for the Steelmen.