Shane Williams sparkled as Neath ran in six tries to see off Cardiff in a
closely-contested Welsh Premiership clash at The Gnoll.
Williams may be out of favour with Wales but he looked every inch
international material with his pace and ability to beat a man.
He crowned a superb personal performance with a fine try near the end to help
Neath home.
Cardiff were in the hunt until late on after replacement Iestyn Harris sent
Luke Tait galloping in for a touchdown that left them just three points adrift a
minute from time.
However, Jamie Ringer and Shaun Connor swooped in turn for tries to settle
it.
Neath had led 19-17 at the break after one of the liveliest halves of rugby
played in Wales all season.
Gareth Morris got the ball rolling in the seventh minute when he profited from
the Welsh All Blacks pushing Cardiff backwards off their own ball at the scrum.
But the visitors hit back through fly-half Nicky Robinson, who took advantage
of disarray in the Neath defence after a 40-metre break from Nick Walne.
The match continued to crackle with pace and skill as both sides went at each
other.
Neath scored a brilliant try through their young prop Adam Jones, the move
spanning 80 metres before stretching their lead when Allan Bateman dived over.
As the match went into first-half injury time, Cardiff countered through a
solo score from scrum-half Ryan Powell.
But it was Neath who came through strongly in the second half and wrapped up
the match thanks to the late scores from Ringer and Connor.
Teams:
Neath:
Durston, G. Morris, A. Bateman, Storey, S. Williams,
S. Connor, A. Moore, P. James, Millward, A. Jones, A. Newman,
L. Bateman, Ringer, Tandy, Mocelutu.
Replacements: Horgan, K. James, Tiueti, Davies, Mathews,
R. Phillips, Howells, Howells.
Tries: A. Bateman, G. Morris, S. Williams, S. Connor,
A. Jones, Ringer.
Cons: S. Connor 3.
Pens: S. Connor.
Cardiff:
Morgan, Walne, J. Robinson, Muller, Dewdney,
N. Robinson, R. Powell, Payne, Rogers, Fourie, Sennekal, Tait,
McShane, Malpas, Sowden-Taylor.
Replacements: Young, Woods, A. Jones, Tate, Harris, James, E. Jones.
Tries: N. Robinson, R. Powell, Tate.
Cons: N. Robinson 3.
Pens: N. Robinson.
Att: 3,500
Ref: N Williams (WRFU).
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