Fly-half Celfyn Davies, back from Llandeilo, was one of the players to shine against Worcester, getting the vital second half try and conversion as well as playing soundly throughout. Skipper and No. 8 Dan Thomas was a huge influence up front with his firm tackling and strong bursts and he was very well supported by flanker Aled Walters. Thomas got a first half try from a driven maul off a lineout only for a penalty by Worcester full-back Sam Carter to close the gap to 5-3 at the break. The Davies try made it 12-3 before fly-half Roger James got a Worcester try converted by Carter with 15 minutes to go. In increasing tension, Llandovery defended for their lives to keep their line intact for a morale-boosting win over one of England's leading clubs.

Wing Chris Thomas, fly-half Jason Williams, prop Robert Hughes, locks Simon Davies and Dafydd Thomas and flanker Hywel Richards all got their names on the scoresheet with two conversions by full-back Celfyn Davies

Centre Deian Augustus scored the fourth Llandovery try, converted by Celfyn Davies, who followed up with a try of his own when handed a scoring pass by full-back and brother Aled. Penygroes were stubborn opponents who made life far from easy for their visitors.

A fiercely contested league match was controversially won with the last move of the match by the visitors. For the Drovers Rob Hughes scored what seemed the winning try three minutes from time but seven minutes later referee Jones from Nantgaredig gave Llandeilo the opportunity for wing Mathew Jacobs to cross in the corner. Earlier two Celfyn Davies penalties were cancelled out by an interception try by centre Dean Owens with Howard Thomas adding the conversion plus a penalty. An excellent match was marred by poor refereeing leaving the hosts feeling disappointed and cheated.

Cornelly opened their account and reduced the deficit before half-time with a drop goal from fly-half, Nicky Giles. But Llandovery's mercurial wing Lowe pushed the visitors ahead yet again in the second half when rounding his tacklers and scoring for fly-half Davies to add the conversion. However, it was not all over by any means, with Cornelly coming back into contention with a try by wing Andy Stephens, converted by Nicky Giles and then there was a try by lock Chris Phillips.

With Llandovery leading 18-15, Giles drew the scores level with a penalty, but Llandovery had the away team rule in their favour. The Drovers will now meet Felinfoel in Llandovery in the next round.

Fuller report: Llandovery pushed premier one opponents Felinfoel out of this year's Welsh Youth Challenge Cup - inflicting a 15-5 defeat on the visitors. Always difficult to beat on their home turf, Llandovery matched Felinfoel in every department against the wind in the first half and outscored them three tries to one. Full-back Chris Thomas was the first to score for Llandovery when he entered the line at pace and burst through a static Felinfoel defence to score in the corner. There was an immediate reply from the visitors, with wing Steven Davies crossing to level the scores following a typical fluid movement of the ball through the backs. But Llandovery regained the lead when left wing Michael Lowe received a long pass from No. 8 Daniel Thomas which missed out the centres and created the space for him to show his pace as he rounded his tacklers to score. There was more to come from the young Drovers, who took a 10-point lead into half-time with a try by Robert Hughes, who crashed over from a driving maul following a clean take at the line-out. Felinfoel did their best to get back in the game in the second half, but Llandovery denied quality possession, especially at the line-out, where the visitors struggled to win even their own ball. In the end, Llandovery finished worthy winners courtesy of a solid defence for a place in the semi-finals.

Full-back Daniel Thomas opened the scoring in a lively start for Llandovery at Brynamman, with other tries coming from No.8 Daniel Rees and centre Deian Augustus. One of the tries was converted by fly-half Aled Davies. But Brynamman recovered from the early pressure to reduce the deficit when flanker Mike Richards broke through for a try, converted by scrum-half Dafydd Jones. Sixteen-year-old Richards is Brynamman's leading try scorer and certainly takes some stopping. He crossed for his second try after moving to the centre because of an injury. Scrum-half Jones again converted, cutting the Llandovery lead to just three points. And there was more to come from Brynamman as they hit a purple patch, but the Drovers defence was up to the task and denied their opponents any further points. The sin-binning of Brynamman scrum-half Dafydd Jones proved crucial in the game, with Llandovery capitalising on their numerical advantage to add more tries through wing Michael Lowe and flanker Aled Walters. Another two tries came from No.8 Daniel Rees and full-back Daniel Thomas, both of which were converted by fly-half Aled Davies

The Llandovery forwards dominated from the start of the second half and forced their way towards the try line where they were awarded a scrum. Scrum-half Aled Jenkins darted in to score and Aled Davies converted to put Llandovery 14-7 up. The last try also started in similar fashion when No.8 Daniel Thomas picked up, drove on and created space for right wing Chris Thomas to go over in the corner.

The Drovers themselves came within yards of scoring on a number of occasions, but good cover work by Newport held them out each time. The last 20 minutes belonged to the Llandovery team as they continually battered the Newport line, but the visitors' outstanding defence held out to secure a final score which did nothing to reflect the Drovers' excellent effort.

The sizeable crowd of some 200 spectators left the ground feeling that the Drovers had given their all but the strength and speed of the Newport team meant that this was not to be the Drovers' day. The young Drovers battled to the very end and all the players can be proud of their efforts and will learn a great deal from playing such powerful opposition.

This team picture, taken at the end of the game, shows -

Back, from left: Aled Davies, Jason Williams, Celfyn Davies, Daniel Rees, Michael Lowe, Rob Hughes, Dafydd Thomas, James Legg, Daniel Thomas (capt), Aled Jenkins, Dean Faulkner, Anthony Jones, TC Theophilus, Craig Morgan 

Front, from left: Aled Walters, Emyr Phillips, Rhys Jones, Dylan James, Robert Forsythe, Dafydd James, Deian Augustus, Conah Davies, Matthew Bailey , Chris Thomas, Hywel Richards

Missing from photo: Wyn Williams

With only minutes remaining, Llandovery went 15-12 up with a superb drop goal from the halfway by Celfyn Davies. Llandeilo ground their way down the field forcing Llandovery to concede a penalty. Howard Thomas stepped up with the wind against him and with the additional pressure of being informed that this was the final kick of the match. He put all the pressure behind him to strike the ball cleanly between the uprights to even the scores and take his side into the final against Llangennech.

F = Friendly 
L = Div 2 = Towy Valley B Youth League Division Two I

U!9s CC (Round) = Welsh Youth Under 19s Challenge Cup

This season all Junior Drovers reports and information are appearing in 1st XV home match programmes, and these are reproduced in the Latest News section of this website.

Details of the mascot for each home game are with the match report for the game.