Whitland 8 Bonymaen 16

Whitland went down to a home defeat against visiting Bonymaen but the match result paled into insignificance as former club captain Dennis James collapsed in the Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn stand and sadly passed away, despite the valiant attempts of three lady nurses in the stand, the club physio, plus the paramedics called to the ground to revive him.

A former hooker with The Borderers' team, Dennis was a regular supporter and will be sadly missed by all who knew him at the club.

It set the cloud on a fixture which had started brightly when another club stalwart Tony Bowen was able to attend just seven days after having a long-awaited hip operation. Tony had decided that missing last week's fixture was enough and was driven to a vantage point on the top touch-line, where he could watch from a car - and there had been further good news that Brian Morgan had been discharged from hospital and Jackie Harries was also on the mend of the great Whitland trio who had been in Glangwili.

On the field, Whitland conceded a third-minute penalty which left-footed centre James Davies landed to give Bonymaen a good start.

But with Steve Gerrard, Romeo Colella, Fakataha Mollatika and Derek Thomas looking good up front, and with local teenager Lee Glanville making a promising centre debut, it seemed only a matter of time before Whitland scored as skipper Daniel Griffiths made a nice break up the middle and Randal Williams supported well before being hauled down just short.

But the pressure paid off because after Griffiths had pushed Whitland into the top corner a quickly-taken penalty from the ever-alert Andrew Jenkins saw Griffiths throw a long pass which allowed full back Wayne Lewis to join the line and supply winger Andrew Richards with the scoring pass, Griffiths just missing the difficult conversion.

The Borderers had other half chances but lacked a penetrative force as Bonymaen tackled well in midfield - and the Borderers conceded a soft three points and lost prop Romeo Colella for ten minutes after losing the ball at their own lineout and allowing busy flanker Andrew Llewellyn to charge to the posts, with Jamie Davies nudging over the simplest of penalties.

Whitland regained the lead almost straight after half time when Griffiths landed a good penalty after a high tackle on centre Daniel Rogers - but Bonymaen showed their intent with a superb handling move up the middle which was only halted by an equally effective cover tackle by Andrew Richards.

Andrew Jenkins also brought off several superb tackles as well as going close in the left corner - and there was bravery aplenty on the floor from veteran hooker Steve Gerrard, Colella and Derek Thomas - but the pressure told as Davies landed a third penalty after missing another attempt.

The centre also converted the try by flanker Llewellyn as reward for being the liveliest player in the Bonymaen camp - and it was very much a day to forget for The Borderers.

The match sponsors were the Ladies of Whitland RFC; the team sponsors were ND Signs and Son, Drefach Velindre; and the match ball sponsors were Phil and Sue Davies, Whitland; Marc Evans, Livestock Haulier, Bancyfelin; Stuart Harris, Electrical Contractor, St Clears.