Possibly the most satisfying fact emerging from a 12-try win by the Talgarth men is that the performance left room for improvement, writes Peter Weavers.

A few errors, not least at the line-out, in the first quarter, suggested that what was a torrid afternoon for the visitors from the Sirhowy Valley could have been worse. What a pleasant problem for the Gwernyfed coaching team and skipper Sam Stephens!

The initial signs were good. From the kick off the green, white and blacks denied the visitors a touch for the first two minutes. When half backs Tom Griffiths and Tyler Morris released the three quarters Gethin Davies put left wing Tom Morgan away. The Llandefalle man, always cool, used speed and guile to evade the cover defence, running in from 30 metres.

The score didn’t appear to open the floodgates as the visitors took advantage of infringements and errors to take the lead on 10 minutes with a converted try. Morris recovered the home advantage with a penalty, but as the 20-minute mark loomed there was nothing to suggest the subsequent onslaught. It was to change.

Scrum half Tom Griffiths showed the way. Having shepherded a maul up the left wing the West Walian took matters into his own hands, leaving the defence flat-footed to run in from 25 metres, allowing Morris a simple conversion.

From the restart massively influential centre Gethin Davies secured the ball on his own 22 metre line, burst through several defenders and timed his pass to Dylan Skyrme to perfection. Following in the footsteps of Skyrmes before him, though perhaps rather more swiftly as dad Geraint, grandfather Tony and uncles Brian and Kevin will admit, Dylan ran in from the halfway line untroubled by defenders,

Within two minutes the Davies/Skyrme axis worked again with what was almost a carbon copy of the third try. Securing the bonus point did not prompt the green, white and blacks to rest on their laurels, impressive number 8 Lloyd Powell breaking the line 30 metres out and out-pacing the defence. Gethin Davies converted and the home side turned round with a 34-7 advantage.

The second period was a procession. Centres Davies and Skyrme led the orchestra and it was the latter who fed Andrew ‘Chuck’ Norris to allow the forwards a sight of the try line. Norris did not falter. Davies converted from wide out.

Replacement hooker Kelly Davies enjoyed a really good spell and got his name on the board when skipper Stephens supplied the perfect final pass. Next to trouble the defence was Calum Ferguson, another speedster eager for work, scoring down the left to breach the 50-point barrier.

Tom Morgan scored another, though the flow of tries was interrupted by a brace of scores from the valiant Pontllanfraith men who, while unable to cope with the pace of the Gwernyfed backs, never gave up. Their efforts were cancelled out by tries 10, 11 and 12 from full back Zac Snape, the hat-trick from Skyrme and then Ferguson once again.

A big crowd enjoyed some marvellous tries and an eviscerating victory that takes the green, white and blacks to the top of the table. However, coaches Thomas, Phillips, Lewis and Dodd know that tougher challenges await, not least next weekend’s trip to Crumlin.