Mariners lose unbeaten tag (From Western Telegraph)

Mariners lose unbeaten tag

Llanelli Wanderers 18 Milford Haven 0

"We were awful today and deserved to lose." was the candid opinion offered by Milford Haven coach Alan McClelland after his side had lost their first match of the campaign against a Llanelli Wanderers' side which was also boasting a 100% record and were ten points to the good at the break and prevented the Mariners from opening their account.

Coach McClelland, as forthright as ever, highlighted poor quality lineout ball, inability to control the ball and the taking of wrong options as the main problems but added that every side has a bad day occasionally and he was very confident that his side would benefit from the experience because they now know they have to work hard to keep on top.

The Milford back row of Mark Wonnacott, Julian Walker and Dean Hadley tackled well enough but with little spark up front there were limited chances for halves Matthew Trueman and Jim Farr to set their backs in motion.

The home side took the lead when they won good lineout ball from Arwell Williams to set up a drive from which nippy scrum half and captain Andrew Jenkins burrowed his way over the line for centre Richard Clement to slot the conversion before also adding a penalty before the break.

The Mariners did raise the tempo after the oranges and a pep-talk from McClelland but Clement fired over another penalty and Wanderers fly half Barry Davies cut through for a try which set the seal on a bad day at the office for Mackie's Men!

Milford Haven: Nicky Greggain: Lee Riley; Ioan Dolling; Adam Collins; Matthew Reynolds: Jim Farr; Matthew Trueman (Paul Evans): Simon Jenkins; Gareth Phillips; Jamie Parr: Carl Allen; Phil Newton (Mark Russell): Julian Walker; Mark Wonnacott; Dean Hadley.