Division One West: Whitland 22-16 Gowerton

The boot of Nico Setaro did the job for Whitland as they picked up where they left off last season by beating Gowerton.

It was a tight affair at Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn, something reflected by the score after 30 minutes as The Borderers led 6-3, with two penalties from No 10 Setaro either side of one from Gowerton centre Josh Hamer.

But it was then the Swansea side took the lead when No 8 Kieran Fisher went over for a try that Hamer goaled, and the latter added three more points before Setaro responded from the final play of the half with another penalty of his own – leaving Whitland 13-9 down half time.

It stayed that way until past the hour mark before Jonathan Thomas struck the decisive blow, finishing well from 25 yards with Setaro again involved as he teed up the Whitland winger with an audacious pass and then converted.

Led by captain and hooker Marc Jones the home scrum was dominant throughout and the pressure yielded two more kickable penalties for the player-coach which he gratefully accepted to make it 22-13, but a length second half that lasted 50 minutes culminated in Hamer landing another three points from the final play to earn his side a losing bonus point.

Whitland: James Stephenson, Jac Howells, Gino Setaro, Josh Thomas, Jonathan Thomas, Nico Setaro, Josh Thomas (2), Aaron Mayne, Marc Jones (capt), Tomos Evans, Courtney Bowman, Ben Kirk, Jamie Thomas, Ryan Morgan, Scott Buirds. Replacements: Gethin Lewis, Tom Finucane, James Lewis, Dai Ebsworth, Danny Evans.