In the first League game for Llanharan in Division 3a, the afternoon started with a problem but finished in exciting fashion. During the warm up with 15 minutes to kick off, Outside Half Lee Davies had to withdraw with a pulled thigh muscle. With first choice Outside Half and Captain Scott Jones out with a broken hand, this caused problems until Lloyd Thomas stepped in. Llanharan started well and took the lead with a penalty from Mike Curtis, followed by a try from Tom Preece, giving us an 8 nil lead. Llanharan had by far the better of the first half exchanges and it was only our own inaccuracies which stopped us going further in front. However just before half time Craig Burton was sin binned and CRCC scored and converted to make the score 8-7 to Llanharan at half time. Ill discipline plagued the team during the first half and got no better in the second half and nearly cost us the game. After the lead changed hands a couple of times, during which there were tries for Louis Stansbury and a length of the field interception by Lloyd Thomas, the whole game hinged on a penalty kick by Mike Curtis. With time up on the clock Mike nailed a tricky 35 yard kick to win the game for Llanharan 25-24. It was a game that both teams felt they should have won and credit must go to both teams for trying to play expansive rugby.

Report courtesy of Gareth Nicholas