Fixture

On a beautiful sunny but bitterly cold day, the visitors started proceedings and right from the off Saints were on the back foot defending against a Fishguard team who were clearly up for the game. Some careless passing and casual tackling by the home side did nothing to reverse this early onslaught and inevitably after only four minutes a try was conceded, open side flanker Lewis Davies rewarding the visitors for their early surge.

St Clears responded well however and full back Adam Phillips kicked a penalty followed within five minutes by a try and conversion for the same man to put the home side in front, ten points to five.

Both sides had chances in a game flowing from end to end but more missed tackles allowed Fishguard’s Luke Marshall to make inroads into the home defence before ultimately finishing off the attacking phases with a try to level the scores.

That looked likely to be the half time score in the hotly contested exchanges but a yellow card for influential stalwart Dafydd Page playing at hooker, unsettled the home pack and allowed Fishguard to exert more pressure, resulting in a score under the posts for centre Kial Keene. Former Saints player Geraint Jones,playing at outside half having a bad day with the boot, converted this one however and Fishguard edged ahead 17 points to 10.

Saints responded once again and within two minutes outside half Rhodri Jones scored the try of the match showing a lightning turn of speed to lose his tacklers and outstrip the entire Fishguard defence to score in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed but at the half time break the scores reflected the competitive state of the game with the visitors holding a narrow lead at 17 points to 15.

Neither side was able to gain the initiative in the very even exchanges in the second half and chances were few and far between, although that did nothing to reduce the fervour of both sides desperately looking for the vital next score. On occasion this did threaten to boil over, not  helped by the over fussy referee, but with only minutes remaining a penalty was awarded to St Clears and James Davies stepped up to slot over the difficult penalty and nudge the home side into the lead looking at only their third win of the season.

Within a minute however the visitors were awarded a penalty which was missed, but in a cruel turn of events, with only seconds remaining, yet another, easier penalty was awarded and with what was to prove to be the final kick of the game Geraint Jones, with only his second successful kick of the afternoon, settled the contest at a breathtaking 20 points to 18 leaving Fishguard grateful but euphoric and Saints desperate and dejected at this twist of fate and wondering what they have to do to win a game!