Division One West: Whitland 13-10 Crymych

Nico Setaro kept his nerve to land a last gasp penalty for Whitland which not only sealed victory for The Borderers but delivered a body blow to rivals Crymych.

The Preseli Men had seemingly earned a crucial two points when a late penalty try left the scores at 10-10, but in the dying seconds their No 8 Tom Powell was penalised for pulling back Josh Davies off the ball and the nerveless Setaro made them pay.

It was the home side who controlled the first 40 minutes and hooker Marc Jones, second row Courtney Bowman, and No 8 Jack Mason were all prominent in the ball carrying stakes – and it was the latter who claimed the opening try when he touched down from a driving lineout. Setaro converted.

The No 10 was also wide with a penalty as Crymych, who had flanker Sion Colella sin binned, struggled to get going. However, the visitors kept in touch at the break via three points from outside half Jonathan Rogers, playing on permit from Narberth.

Setaro negated that with a penalty early in the second half for Whitland but then Crymych began to up the ante, and with conditions deteriorating they drew level three minutes from time when a powerful shunt from a scrum resulted in a penalty try.

That prompted an exciting finale where the Preseli Men had possession in the Whitland 22 only for the ball to be spilt forward and the home side cleared – and away centre Tomos Phillips opted to run it back from deep before Powell’s infringement gave Setaro the chance to win it.

He duly took it as Whitland went fifth in the table, while the Preseli Men stay second bottom ahead of a pivotal four game period against the sides around them.

“I’m happy and felt we deserved the win,” said home coach Gareth Bennett afterwards.

“It was a tale of two halves. We could have been more tries up at half time and when the wind and rain came in we started giving penalties away. But they gave us the chance at the end and Nico slotted the points.”

Meanwhile, Crymych spokesman Adrian Howells said: “We get one bonus point but it was the story of our season.

“They deserved to be ahead after the first half, but second half there was nothing in it.”

Whitland: Gino Setaro, Alex Codd, Josh Davies, James Stephenson, Geraint Jones, Nico Setaro, Jac Howells, Aaron Mayne, Marc Jones, Tomos Evans, Raff Williams, Courtney Bowman, James Lewis, James Thomas, Jack Mason. Replacements: Iwan Lewis, Ben Kirk, Tom Finucane, Dai Ebsworth, Scott Candler.

Crymych: Adam Phillips, Gethin Gibby, Tomos Phillips, Carwyn Phillips, Laurence Headlam, Jonathan Rogers, Dafydd Phillips, Rhys Richards, Steffan Harries, Ryan Rees, Matthew Freebury, Rhys Davies, Richard Sharp-Williams, Sion Colella, Tom Powell. Replacements: Sion Hughes, Dafydd Walters, Ilan Phillips, Hedd Nicholas.