“Corus look like being the strongest team in the division. They have an excellent coach in Billy Shenton and they play an exciting brand of 15-man rugby,” admitted Davies. “The other thing that struck me about them is they are a very confident side. I think they are going to be very difficult to beat this season.
“We are missing a couple of players at the moment, and the sending off certainly didn’t help our cause, but we were well and truly beaten.
“I still think we can live at this standard, though, and we will get better. The levels of fitness and skills is higher than in Division 3 and it’s going to take some of our players a little bit of time to adjust.”
Not that Corus can expect to have things all their own way. Bridgend Athletic and Dunvant are hot on their heels and both sides maintain their unbeaten records with fine away wins. Bridgend Athletic had a debut try from prop Rod Jones and another from Steve Lewis to thank for their 17-15 win at Kidwelly. Lewis also converted both tries and kicked a penalty in a game that saw the visitors build up a 10 point lead only to see the home side hit back to lead 15-10 going into the final quarter.
“It was a very close game and Kidwelly were probably the better side,” said Bridgend Athletic coach Huw Hathaway. “We have come down a division but we have learned how to survive in games like these. Two years ago we would definitely have lost this game.”
Dunvant turned on the style at Tonmawr as they ran in five tries to pick up invaluable points on the road with a 42-17 win. Carl Morris, Don Davies, Simon Jenkins, Anthony Jenkins and Barry Maddocks bagged the tries for the visitors, while Austin Howells scored all the Tonmawr points. Left wing Kelvin Rees picked up two of Pontyberem’s five tries as they notched their first win with a 29-3 victory over Banwen and player-coach Stuart Jenkins grabbed a vital try in Felinfoel’s 21-13 home win over Mumbles.
Former Llanelli scrum half Steve Wake helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in Lougher’s 53-6 home win over Maesteg Quins and back row man Steve Raikes also crossed three times.
Gorseinon hit back from a 10 points deficit to draw 17-17 with Carmarthen Athletic to hang onto their unbeaten record.
Mike Venables was the toast of Haverfordwest in Division 3 West after he scored all his side’s points in their 15-14 home win over Amman United. Having started the game at scrum half, Venables moved to the left wing in the second half and popped up in exactly the right place to score a last gasp try to win the game.
Seven try Llangefni made it three out of three with a 50-10 home win over Tenby to stay at the top of the table, while Trimsaran had to settle for an 18-18 draw at Pembroke Dock Quins after Quins wing Lee Schofield crossed for a try in the corner in the last minute.
Neyland outside half Mark Riley went through the score card to steer his side to a 19-8 win at centenary celebrating Cefneithin. Riley dropped three goals, converted his first half try and also kicked a penalty to keep his side at the top of the Division 4 West table.
Just behind them are Pontarddulais, who maintained their 100 per cent record with a 19-7 victory at new Dock Stars that included tries from Gary Williams, Carwyn Collins and Nick Hayles.
