South Wales Jets’ joint head coach Lloyd White scored his first competitive try in 1,882 days as his side cruised to a 66-18 win over Bridgend Blue Bulls in WRL’s Summer Smash at Sardis Road, Pontypridd.
The 37-year-old, who last played professionally in 2022, last scored a try on May 16, 2021, when he went over in a 66-0 for Toulouse Olympique XIII at Whitehaven.
And in one of those uncanny coincidences, his side scored 66 again and were dominant for much of the game, outscoring their opponents 12 tries to three, with two of the Bridgend tries only coming when Jets were temporarily down to 12 after Ieuan Sims was sinbinned.
Jets, missing a few players due to a stag weekend, defended well for the first few minutes, then took the lead from their first real attack, Aaron Lloyd going over and Jamie Marsh converted for the first of his nine goals.
From kick-off, the score doubled. A good length of the field set ended in a breakaway try from Jamie Leech, that Marsh then improved.
Jets were making it look easy. Madoc Lane showed some skill to score the third try, with Marsh kicking well to put the score on to 18-0 on 14 minutes.
They didn’t get the fourth until after the water break, with Sims storming his way over for an unconverted try.
Bridgend got their first couple of tries just before half-time. First, Joseph Woodbridge scored in the corner and Llewellyn Hawkes converted well.
Then from kick-off, Lewis Ingram found the gap to storm over for Bridgend’s second. Hawkes converted again and the comeback was definitely on. Only the half-time whistle stopped Bridgend’s charge, but Jets went into half-time 22-12 up.
Sims was restored to play a minute into the second half, and straight after that, Darrel Moyle scored Jets’ fifth, followed quickly by White’s effort before leaving the field to a round of applause. Shane Lee, debutant Joe Coope-Franklin followed, before Sims charged through with another fine individual try. Marsh’s latest goal brought up the half-century.
A clean break Lewis Ingram try on 64 minutes, converted by Hawkes, gave Bridgend something for their second half efforts, but the final period of the game belonged to Jets as Dai Hooper, Iestyn Jones and Aaron Harrison went over to cement the victory and maintain their 100 percent winning record this season.
Aberavon Fighting Irish held on to on second place after winning a remarkable 101-point thriller against Rhondda Outlaws, 62-39.
They made the ideal start, with Cody Rees crossing after just three minutes. Mckenzie Gray doubled the advantage in 15 minutes, before Sean Waldeck landed the conversion.
Rhys Evans then added Aberavon’s third try from kick-off, with Waldeck again converting for a 16-0 lead.
Rhondda quickly responded through an Ollie Owen try. Mackenzie Williams couldn’t convert, but he did land a drop goal to cut the deficit to 16-5.
But Aberavon soon regained the momentum. Iestyn Griffiths crossed on 26 minutes and Waldeck added the extras before Gray claimed his second try of the afternoon just a minute later. Waldeck’s conversion made it 28-5.
The Outlaws again fought back as Dafydd Walsh crossed and Williams converted, but Aberavon finished the half strongly. Jay Baker went over with two minutes remaining before Lewis Francis added another on the stroke of half-time to send the Fighting Irish into the break with a commanding 36-15 advantage.
Rhondda emerged after the interval determined to make a contest of it. Walsh grabbed his second try of the match straight after the restart, with Williams converting, before Oliver Owen also completed his brace, and Williams was again on target to reduce the arrears to just nine points at 36-27.
Aberavon replied when both Baker and Rees crossed for their second tries with Waldeck converting once, but Rhondda refused to surrender. Williams crossed for a try of his own and improved it to keep his side within touching distance.
Kian Parlour gave Aberavon further breathing space with another try with Waldeck converting, before Baker completed his hat-trick. Adam Parry responded for Rhondda and Williams converted once more, but Aberavon dominated at the end.
Francis wrapped up the scoring by collecting his second try late on, before Waldeck rounded off an outstanding individual kicking display by adding the final conversion of the afternoon.
