League 1 West Central

Ammanford 38 Builth Wells 7

AMMANFORD romped home in a game with uncontested tries from the off after Builth Wells arrived with only one prop.

The move seemed to affect Ammanford who put on a lacklustre performance despite running in six tries.

Builth started well, but Ammanford soon came into the game and a searing Tom Rees attack split the visiting defence, but from the recycled ball and with a five-man overlap Ammanford opted for a cross kick and the try was missed.

Fortunately from the scrum, captain Emyr Price, powered over.

Ammanford struggled to get to grips with the game and – thanks to the uncontested scrums - the visiting back row caused problems in the home defence with their direct running.

The home team suffered a double loss when centre Tom Rees was forced off with a dislocated finger and was soon followed by outside-half Mitch Jones.

Daf Pritchard and Rhydian Morris came on as replacements and both were soon in the action when a misdirected penalty for touch saw Ammanford running the ball back. Pritchard hit the angle on the halfway line and rounded the full back to cross for his first try. Morris slotted the extras.

With Builth still carrying strongly the home defence, led by Steffan Rees, were forced to maintain their focus, and with the half drawing to a close another Builth attack was turned over near the home line. Ammanford ran the ball from their own line as Dyfrig Dafis was put clear and his inside pass after a 50-metre run sent Joe Morgan over under the posts. Morris added two for a 19-0 interval advantage.

Builth started the second half strongly and gave the home side a wake-up call when they powered over to score.

Despite looking far from their best, Ammanford showed what they were capable of in flashes when they again attacked from deep, moving the ball wide to send Gary Stephens away on a run. His inside pass put Pritchard over for his second.

The game continued with a disjointed performance interspersed with flashes of class.

From inside the Ammanford 22, Liam Baker turned the ball over and scrum half Ioan Mainwaring, whose service over the last few games has been key to Ammanford success, got the hosts moving. Again they ran from deep with Dafis on hand to finish off, Morris added two.

Despite their dominance, the hosts endured a frustrating afternoon as they blew several good chances, but they finished on a positive note when Stephens was again put away and his inside pass put Pritchard over for his hat-trick and Morris stepped up to add the extras.

Ammanford travel to basement side Tondu to end the first half of the season.