It was four defeats on the trot for Aberystwyth on Saturday as they deservedly lost to Kidwelly at Plascrug. The two teams were both at this level last year, and the two games between them were shared, the home side gaining the spoils on each occasion. But there was no doubt on Saturday about the visitors’ victory, the light and dark blues arguably putting on their most mediocre home display for some time.

The afternoon started disastrously for Aber as they gifted Kidwelly a score within three minutes.  What should have been a comfortable clearance kick from inside their 22 fell neatly into Kidwelly hands and wing Chris Moore gladly accepted the invitation to claim the first try of the afternoon.  Kidwelly dominated the next five minutes and the pressure exerted earned them a second try. Prop Berian Watkins forced himself over the line for this, and fly half Leighton Walters added the conversion for a 12 point lead inside the first ten minutes.

Aber responsded well at this point and their incursion into enemy territory gave Llywarch ap Myrddin a chance to open their account with a penalty. The fly half struck the ball well from 35 metres to make it 12-3 to the visitors. The home side did then regain some composure but the Kidwelly defence, assisted by a litany of elementary errors from the Aber attack managed to keep the scoreboard static. In fact the only further score in the first half came from the boot of Walters, a straightforward penalty from 25 metres in the 25^th minute, the score remaining at 15-3 to the interval.

In the second half Aberystwyth certainly had territorial advantage for the first 25 minutes or so, but whatever platform their forwards gained, the finishing power was not there.  Wrong options were taken, and attacks simply ran out of men on many occasions, but credit must be given to the well organised Kidwelly defence who kept Aber at bay. As the half wore on the pressure on Aber to achieve an all important score increased, this doing nothing to help them. There was a certain inevitability that Kidwelly would eventually break out and when the chance came in the 71^st minute the ball was swung out to the flank and Moore crossed for his brace of tries. The winger managed to get nearer to the posts to make the conversion easier for Walters, the outside half adding the two points.  That score changed the complexion of the game; not only were Aber now all but out of contention, trailing 3-22, but Kidwelly now sensed the possibility of a bonus point try. That came however as a result of Aberystwyth mistakes rather than a positive Kidwelly initiative. Aber mounted an attack from their own 10 metre line but a dropped pass made the ball loose, the visitors kicked ahead and centre Aaron Warren was the man who claimed the touchdown after a string of handling errors. Walters raised his personal tally to 12 with the conversion as his side went 29-3 ahead in the 76^th mnute.

This was to be the final score as the game died out and many were relieved at the sound of the final whistle blast from Pembrokeshire referee Andrew Miles.

Four defeats is a disappointing start to the season, but the League involves 22 fixtures and there is a long road ahead before the final layout of the table is decided. Aber now move on to their fifth match next Saturday, away at Loughor. The seasiders do not have a very good record at this ground, but Loughor did themselves lose to Kidwelly last week, and have had an indifferent start to their season. Aberystwyth must be positive and approach this as being the scene of their opening victory of the season.

Alan Jones