League Two West Central.

Cwmgors 22 Neath Athletic 45

After a draw and a couple of narrow losses which at least yielded losing bonus points, Cwmgors endured a real bad day at the office against visiting Athletic at a sunkissed Parc y Werin.

Cwm kicked off playing towards Tairgwaith and made a terrific start with a try inside two minutes as, following a kick to the corner, flanker Darren Williams went over from a rolling maul move.

Centre Steff Rees added the extras to add to their great start.

Athletic bagged a first penalty before Rees struck at the opposite end to give his side a 10-3 advantage.

But the visitors upped their game and some good possession and territory allowed them to stamp their authority with a brace of well-worked tries.

The home side hit back well on the stoke of half-time as some good forward foraging created the opportunity for number eight Dylan Hills to go over the whitewash. Rees’ conversion tied the scores at 17-17 at the break.

However, after competing well in the first half, Cwmgors were second best in most areas in the second period as the visitors dominated.

Home indiscipline gifted Neath a trio of penalties, which they gratefully accepted, before catching a sleepy Cwm defence napping with a further try.

Cwmgors were under the cosh, and conceded two more tries to the rampaging visitors.

With the game already lost, the home side rolled the dice late on and were rewarded with a well-worked backs’ try when some neat running play put replacement wing Lloyd Watson on for a consolation – though it was not enough to earn the hosts a bonus point.

The Cherries will want to write the defeat off as just one of those days and look forward to their derby visit to joint-leaders Cwmllynfell on Saturday.