The Warriors managed to win their 150th fixture, edging out Hendy in the clubs 1st encounter and scoring 6 tries in the process. Led out by veteran John Horwood - standing in for Jon Kerr while he 'mentally prepared himself' the Warriors continued their recent good form. Chapman and Chris Furnace (well he was wearing Furnace socks) made debuts while Keeney developed his skills enough to be asked to feature for llanelli in his next match. Chapman drew praise from Team Manager Lee Rowlands who was shocked that he managed two tackles. Dean himself said he enjoyed the experience and couldn't wait to play again!! Togh tackling Anthony Randell was at it again, probaly boosted by rumours that he had broken 8 ribs in Tumble while Jonny Kerr set a new club record for stroping. Block obviously enjoyed himself - claiming his try was 'the best 3 yards of my life' and apart from Killer's javalin throwing the Warriors left each other alone (unlike Hendy)
Match Report
The Llanelli Warriors were able to mark their 150th fixture with a victory on their 1st ever visit to Hendy Park.
Not having met before it seemed the clubs were making up for lost time in a frantic 1st quarter. Both sides went for all out attack and this resulted in 4 tries shared evenly. Anthony Randell got the Warriors off the mark followed by a short range effort from Jason Bennet but these scores were cancelled out by scrum half Martin Rees and flanker Carl Rees for the home side.
The game settled down somewhat before Hendy took the lead. Setteling better despite the experimental look to the team they scored two sweeping tries through forwards Aaron Rees and Mark Williams.
With Darren Pollitt and Andrew John doing well the Warriors retaliated through Simon Jenkins who scored a neat try off the back of a 5 meter scrum and improved it himself.
Trailing at the break the Warriors were obviously keen to resume and they got the 1st score early when scrum half Randell went over in the corner, Captain Jon Kerr converting to regain the lead. Hendy though redoubled efforts and Calfyn Evans scored out wide, but the missed conversion left them leading by just a point. The Warriors were able to utalise a strong bench with Dean Chapman and Tristan Treharne adding steel up front whilst Joshua Crowther looking threatening on the wing. As time slipped away from the Warriors it looked as though Hendy would secure the victory but with full time approaching, especially as they were on the attack. However disaster struck when Neil Parker seized on a dropped ball, hacking over the line and claiming the touch down.
With time for just one more play Hendy over egged the restart and the Warriors had a scrum on half way. No 8 Simon Jenkins capped an excellent performance with a 50m run through some decidedly relaxed defence to score with the last action of the game.
The first meeting was deemed a huge success by both sides back at the clubhouse were Rob Hughes was named Man of the Match and it is hoped there will be many more meetings between the clubs in the future.
Warriors: Chris Furnace (Lee Rowlands), Tony Whittaker (Joshua Crowther), Andrew John (Neil Parker), Alun Stephens, Darren Pollitt (Liam Carpenter), Jonathan Jones, Anthony Randell, Jason Bennett (Tristan Treharne, Colin Talcon), Jason Jenkins (Dean Chapman), Huw Jenkins (Richard Evans), John Horwood, Jonathan Kerr (Cpt), Jonathan Keeney, Simon Jenkins, Robert Hughes.
Tries: Anthony Randell (2), Jason Bennett, Simon Jenkins (2), Neil Parker
Hendy: Steve Payne, Dean Davies, Chris Reynolds, Calfyn Evans, Aled Fowler, Dai Davies, Martin Rees, Chris Antomiazzi, Sam Parkhouse, Dai Davies, Mark Williams, Rob James, Carl Rees, Aaron Rees, Richard Toth
Tries: Martin Rees, Carl Rees, Aaron Rees, Mark Williams, Calfyn Evans
Man of the Match: Robert Hughes (Warriors)