An at-the-death touchline conversion from home hero, fly-half Ioan Hughes, secured another win for Llandovery, who remain unbeaten in the SRC after four games.

Hughes, younger brother of former Scarlets and Dragons captain Steffan Hughes, kept his cool to slot the conversion for the very latest of tries, scored by young back-row Tiaan Sparrow.

The Drovers completed a quick-fire double over the North Walians, having beaten them 41-31 the previous week in Colwyn Bay, but there was a general view around Church Bank that the better side had lost.

RGC had led all the way, keeping Llandovery attacks at bay with a forceful presence at the breakdown and sharp incisive running from their nimble backs, headed by former Llandrillo College full-back Caio Parry, their Great Britain Sevens star.

Llandovery were still trailing 22-35 going into the last seven minutes and - to their credit - they sneaked victory with tries from full-back Jac Davies and Sparrow.

With Ebbw Vale’s game against Cardiff called off due to storm damage, the Drovers go top of the table with 20 points from four consecutive bonus-point wins.

The top of the SRC table may look familiar, with Llandovery and Ebbw Vale leading the way. But Swansea’s victory over champions Newport, Bridgend’s win at Aberavon, and the continued strong performances of RGC and Carmarthen Quins suggest the battle for the top-four play-off spots will be both novel and riveting.

One immediate concern for the Drovers is the leaking of tries - 15 in four games - and the next game, away at Ebbw Vale on October 16, will be a test of resolve and defensive prowess.

Early indications on Saturday suggested that RGC were really up for the challenge and - with the wind - controlled most of the first half.

Fly-half Dion Jones started things off with a penalty and soon added a conversion of a try out wide by right wing Osian Llewelyn.

Llandovery drove hard for the line under skipper and No 8 Joe Powell to get a score back but were kept out by some fine RGC tackling, and it was left for Hughes to get their first points with a penalty.

Jones responded in kind but when the visitors were down to 14 men after the sin-binning of hooker Jac Petch-Jones, swift passing worked in Scarlets full-back Jac Davies.

With a Hughes conversion narrowing the score to 10-13 and just as it looked as if the Drovers were ready to push ahead, RGC scrum-half Tudor Jones ran in from half way, Jones adding the conversion for a 20-10 interval lead.

Parry then showed his sevens speed with a brilliant run from his own half which ended with lock James Brown plunging over.

Although finding it tough to get the better of the contact area, the Drovers scrambled a converted try from Hughes.

A Jones penalty and try from Parry trumped a lock Chris Long score to keep the North Walians 35-22 ahead.

As the RGC defence began to lose its bite, Davies got his second converted try after the work of Hughes and wing Llien Morgan, and in a grandstand finish a close range line-out ended with Sparrow crashing over.

Hughes hit the difficult conversion to end with 16 points and become the toast of the town.

Llandovery:

Tries: J Davies (2), I Hughes, C Long, T Sparrow

Cons: I Hughes (4)

Pen: I Hughes

RGC

Tries: O Llewelyn, T Jones, J Brown, C Parry,

Cons: D Jones (3)

Pens: D Jones (3)