A WARM welcome was received by Dinas Powys at Gwernyfed RFC, a club based in the village of Talgarth in southern Powys.

The hosts have impressive facilities and within their clubhouse their captains board bears the name of Chris O'Brien, a Dinas Powys product who moved to live in the area, whom is revered within the club as one of the best players ever to represent their club.

A hugely disappointing performance from the Villagers of Dinas Powys ended their unbeaten start to the season. The margin of defeat meant that not even a losing bonus point was gained, yet at half-time they led by 9-10 and a further victory appeared to be within their grasp.

A combination of a small pitch, a pedantic, musical and verbose referee and a talented and committed Gwernyfed side contributed to a performance that was littered by handling errors, and a flurry of costly penalties as a series of various players could not help themselves in querying the referees decisions.

The home side led by 6-0 after 20 minutes when John Morris kicked a penalty to reduce the lead to 6-3. This encouraged the visitors and a series of barging runs by skipper Josh Dunleavy softened up the home defence and a try appeared to have been scored only to be disallowed for a forward pass.

The men from Dinas Powys were now dominating territory and with 10 minutes of the first half remaining, a sweet passage of passing finished with right wing Rhys Evans crossing for a fine team try, it was converted by Morris.

The home side were staying in touch as the Villagers leaked penalties and home scrum half Gerwyn Williams was taking every opportunity presented.

The first half ended with Dinas Powys passing the ball along the backline behind their own try line and freeing centre Sonny Driscoll who ran 90 metres only to be tackled short of the line. Half-time score 9-10.

The second half saw the home side score two well worked tries and amass 20 points, the visitors scored a fine try of their own as Rhys Evans again showed stunning pace to cross in the corner. The scrum and lineout were fine, centre Ciaran Driscoll had a strong performance, second row Gareth Williams was immense in all areas and an inspiring performance by Josh Dunleavy were not enough to counter the effect of penalties conceded that directly led to the home side scoring 16 points.

Full-time result Gwernyfed 29 Dinas Powys 18.

Coaches John Dunleavy and Luke Gibson will need to regroup the players in preparation for the visit of near neighbours Barry RFC to the Common for an early 1.30pm kick-off.

Whilst the first team were losing in Powys the second XV, known as the Dingoes gained a fine victory over Barry Seconds, tries scored by Rhys Gambold, James Walters, Morgan Williams and a brace by Matt Knibbs contributed to a 36-7 win.