News

​CARMARTHEN ATHLETIC 34 SWEDEN 3

Athletic hosted a rare & unique fixture at Athletic Park tonight when they entertained the Swedish National squad. It is not often that a 'grass roots' Welsh club get the opportunity to take on the might of a country's national team (we have done so on one previous occasion, vs Ivory Coast in 1999 as a warm match for their RWC campaign - Ken Owens was the ball boy for that game!).

​The players were greeted onto the field by a guard of honour of Athletic Junior Section players and the match started at a blistering pace with plenty of early pressure applied by the visitors. Having missed a penalty earlier Sweden took a 3 point lead with a successful attempt after 12 minutes. Athletic replied with a similar effort and went further ahead with a fine individual try which was converted to give the home side a slender 10-3 interval lead.

The Red & Blacks visibly moved up a couple of gears in the second half and the hard working Swedish defence began to tire under the relentless rampage of forwards & backs alike. Despite some last gasp tackling by the tourists, the home side managed to cross for four tries to delight the sizeable crowd. The final score was 34 points 3.

​Athletic scorers: Martin Penhallurick (3 tries) Tom Gravell (try) Dan Evans (try) Dave Evans (pen, con) Tom Gravell (3 cons.)

​Sweden scorer: Theodor Karlsson (penalty)

​Sweden now go on to play Nantgaredig on Saturday as part of 'Nants' 50th anniversary season celebrations. Good luck to both sides!

​Pic: Action from last Thursday's floodlit match against Sweden, courtesy of Su Bowen.