The first semi-final of the SRC Trophy went rightly the way of the underdogs, who beat Cardiff with an attacking and defending display of the highest order.

Llandovery will now have to travel to Ebbw Vale - narrow winners over Newport - for the Grand Final showdown on Sunday, May 10.

Having already lost 38-27 and 45-14 to the Blue and Blacks, the Drovers faced a huge challenge against the side that had finished top of the regular table.

Few press or media pundits gave the fourth-placed side a chance at the Arms Park, but the squad made the so-called experts eat their words as they outthought and outfought the hot favourites.

The West Walians were a different side this time around; they were rock-solid at scrum and line-out, chose the better options, defended like dervishes in the loose, closed down the dangerous Cardiff backs and took their chances with aplomb.

Coaches Euros Evans, Gareth Potter and Nic Cudd were proud men.

“To lose at home to Cardiff by 31 points and to come here and beat a side that was in a rich vein of form speaks volumes for the character of the boys,” said Evans.

“We spoke in training about the importance of scoring first, and the key to our performance was the explosive start we had in scoring two converted tries in 10 minutes.

“We kept our composure throughout, did the basics well, defended hard and came through as strongly in the second half as we had started the match.”

Cardiff coach Dan Fish, who saw his side lose their first game in seven league outings, was of a similar view.

“When you give a quality side like Llandovery a 14-point start, it makes life very difficult, but fair play to them, they were the better side on the day,” he said.

And even when Cardiff went ahead 19-14 early in the second half, the Drovers kept admirable calm by quickly regaining the lead through the slashing break and try from centre Kian Abraham.

Immaculate fly-half Ioan Hughes turned the screw with three penalties in the last quarter to end up with 15 points and seal a famous win.

Hughes was excellent throughout, with and without the ball, but there were any number of outstanding performances from the Drovers.

Scrum-half and skipper Lee Rees had his finest game of the season - perhaps the best in all 402 appearances for the club - and the hugely underrated Abraham outshone the much-touted Cardiff centres Steff Emanuel and Osian Darwin-Lewis.

Hooker Cam Lewis and lock Joe Powell were just two of the many forwards who swarmed in attack and defence, and a word too for combative flanker Tom Curry.

The 29-year-old was brought into the squad to compensate for the loss to injury of two top back-rowers in Osian Davies and Stuart Worrall, and his work rate on and off the ball has been a huge bonus for the team.

Official S4C Man of the Match Rhodri Jones - Mr Dependable in the Llandovery centre - played a huge part in the two opening tries and then went on to crash into the dangerous Cardiff midfield for the rest of the game.

His angled run after just four minutes paved the way for ever-alert wing Aaron Warren to slice through under the posts before a marvellous offload out of the tackle sent Abraham haring clear.

It took Cardiff a while to react such was the intensity of the Llandovery play, but centre Osian Darwin-Lewis took advantage of a rare hole in midfield to make it 14-7.

The two Hughes boys, fly-half Ioan and prop Jamie, did wonders in holding up prop Ioan Emanuel in goal, but when Curry was yellow-carded for a professional foul in the red zone, Cardiff struck.

Flanker Ben Fry crashed through, hurting himself badly in the process, and with fly-half Harri Wilde kicking his second conversion, the scores were tied 14-14 at the break.

When hooker Alun Rees - an ex-Drover - smuggled his way over from a line-out to get Cardiff into the lead just after the break, the favourites looked ready to take over the game.

Not a bit of it, as Abraham showed rare pace and balance as he raced in from 50 metres, only for Wilde to regain the lead for the Blue and Blacks with a simple penalty.

But a late tackle on the all-action Rees earned Wilde a yellow card and from there on it was Llandovery who controlled affairs under the guileful authority of their splendid skipper.

Hughes punished ill-discipline with three penalties – one from 45 metres through the persistent drizzle – to send the underdogs on their way.

Cardiff

Tries: O Darwin-Lewis, B Fry, A Rees

Pen: H Wilde

Llandovery

Tries: K Abraham (2), Aaron Warren,

Cons: I Hughes (3)

Pens: I Hughes (3)

Cardiff: J Goodchild, O Darwin-Lewis, S Emanuel, D Cross; H Wilde, E Lloyd; I Emanuel, A Rees, T Harper, C Hudd (capt), E Rees, B Fry, L de la Rua, N Hudd

Replacements: E Nicholls-Ngsasseu, J Cowell, W Davies-King, E Phillips, S Moore, J Williams, L Lucas, R Cummings

Llandovery: J Davies; H Doel, K Abraham, R Jones, Aaron Warren; I Hughes, L Rees (capt); J Hughes, C Lewis, G Hawley, H Holden, J Powell, D Gemine, E Sheldon, T Curry

Replacements: H Thomas, B Watkins, J Morse, K Jones, T Sparrow, Adam Warren, J Maynard, L Setaro