BUILTH Wells opened their Admiral National League Two West Central campaign with a 34-21 defeat at home to Resolven.
The Bulls were made to pay the price for ill discipline in the latter stages to allow the visitors to claw the points back to south Wales.
Builth made a promising start, gaining a good position in the opposition 22m zone and a well controlled driving maul resulted in a try for prop Iwan Mills, converted by centre Steffan Towns.
Shortly afterwards, Resolven reduced the deficit with penalty converted by outside half Declan Thomas.
Builth improved their score with a 15th minute penalty by Towns before increased their lead with a try by skipper Lucas Evans following a well organised line out catch and drive in the opposition 22m zone.
Action from Builth Wells' clash with Resolven. Picture by Darren Laurie.
Resolven hit back with another penalty by Thomas following a frantic period deep in Builth territory and were right back in the hunt with a try from Kyle Jones
Towns restored their cushion with two penalties from Towns to establish a 21-14 lead going into the final stages.
However the Bulls conceded a penalty, converted by Lewis Ridge before being further punished with a breakaway try from Jack Keenan with Ridge adding the extras.
The visitors were now in the ascendancy and a successful lineout catch and drive resulted in a try from Dylan Cole, converted by Ridge who completed the scoring with a late penalty to complete the Bulls’ capitulation.
Elsewhere COBRA opened their North Wales League One campaign with an 11-10 defeat at home to Llandudno.
Ieuan Williams’ try and a conversion and penalty from Wil Worthington saw the Meifod side fall just short.
Meanwhile Newtown opened their season with a 29-3 defeat at Teirw Nant 29 in North Wales League Two with Will Holloway’s penalty proving scant consolation for the visitors.
Elsewhere Welshpool crashed to a 41-14 opening day defeat at home to Wrexham.
Pool were very much in the game at the break with tries from Rhys Williams and Ryan Goodwin both converted by Tom Williams but the north Wales side pulled away to complete a comfortable win in the second-half.
Action from Welshpool's clash with Wrexham. Picture by Gary Williams.
Machynlleth opened their campaign with a comfortable 33-8 win at Menai Bridge in North Wales League Three.
Tries from Chris Jones and Sion Jones with a conversion from Kameron Simmonds-Sandy saw the visitors establish an interval lead and despite losing two players to the sin bin after the break extended their lead with a try from Rhys Lewis, converted by Simmonds-Sandy.
Machynlleth sealed their win with tries from Huw Llyr Rees and Rhys Morris, both by converted by Simmonds-Sandy.
Llanidloes opened their campaign with a 29-0 win at home to Mold IIs.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here