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banner Sunday, 24 December, 2000, 07:26 GMT
Swansea end Stradey jinx
Sililo Martens touches down
Sililo Martens crossed for Swansea's first-half try
Swansea survived pulsating Llanelli tactics to record their first win at Stradey Park in eight years and extend their lead at the top of the Welsh-Scottish league to three points.

And Llanelli legend Phil Bennett revealed Scarlets fans were now beginning to question the position of Llanelli coach Gareth Jenkins.

"I have lived in Llanelli all my life, and the talk around the town is that maybe Gareth needs a fresh challenge and maybe the team needs a fresh voice in the dressing room," he said on BBC Radio Wales.

The pace of Llanelli's backs - wing Mark Jones in particular - looked to have the beating of Swansea, who had pulverised the Llanelli pack in the scrums.

But fly-half Arwel Thomas gave the Scarlets a taste of their own free-flowing wizardry with a cheeky inside pass to send winger Sean Payne over for the crucial try with five minutes to go.

Platform provided

Thomas then kicked the conversion to give Swansea their one point cushion - making amends for four relatively easy penalty misses earlier in the game.

The Scarlets began the second-half in frenetic fashion with a Neil Boobyer try dubiously disallowed before Dafydd James was freed by a deft Boobyer touch to score his second try of the game.

A penalty by Stephen Jones and then a drop goal by the outside-half looked to have sealed the win for Llanelli before Payne struck.

Swansea dominated the first-half with two Arwel Thomas penalties and a Sililo Martens try to underline their superiority.

But Dafydd James hit back with his first try just on half-time after Martyn Madden had made a thumping run into the Swansea midfield.

Llanelli then continued their high-paced assault on Swansea into the second-half, but the strength of the All White's pack gave Thomas the platform to provide the crucial try for his side.


Scorers - Llanelli: Tries: James 2. Pen: Jones 3. Drop goals: Jones.

Swansea: Tries: Martens, Payne. Con:Thomas 2. Pen: Thomas 3

Teams - Llanelli: M Cardey, M Jones, D James, N Boobyer, S Finau, S Jones, R Moon, P Booth, R McBryde, M Madden, C Gillies, C Wyatt, D Hodges, M Buckingham, S Quinnell (capt).
Replacements: J Davies, M Thomas, V Cooper, I Boobyer, D Peel, A Lawson, G Evans.

Swansea: K Morgan, R Rees, S Winn, S Gibbs (capt), S Payne, A Thomas, S Martens, D Morris, G Jenkins, B Evans, T Maulin, J Griffiths, G Lewis, H Jenkins, C Charvis.
Replacements: D Weatherly, C Rees, R Jones, C Anthony, G Mason, L Jones, P Moriarty.

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See also:

16 Dec 00 |  Welsh-Scottish Rugby
So easy for Swansea
17 Dec 00 |  Welsh-Scottish Rugby
Caleys clinch thriller in Perth
09 Sep 00 |  Welsh-Scottish Rugby
Swansea's 14 are best in the west
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