Lee Rees got the perfect send-off at the end of his 17-season and 402 match career at Llandovery as he picked up the Super Rygbi Cymru title at Eugene Cross Park.

The 35-year-old captain of the Drovers set a fine example to his troops as he led them to a first victory in Ebbw Vale since October 2022 as The Steelmen had to settle for second best in the Grand Final for the second year running.

Canadian international back row man Sion Parry was immense for the home side, once again carrying off the player of the match award, but there were too many penalties and too many unforced errors for Ebbw to their semi-final win over 2025 champions Newport a week earlier.

As well as conceding 19 penalties The Steelmen also had lock Dylan Barrett and scrum half Jonathan Evans shown yellow cards in the first half and then lock Curtis Gregory sent off with two minutes left to play.

Llandovery also had flanker Tom Curry sent to bin along with Barrett, while Joe Powell also had 10 minutes in the cooler for a head high shot on Ebbw No 8 Owen Conquer that left the Dragons academy youngster flat out.

The Drovers had first use of a stiff breeze but didn’t make the most of it. They dominated the opening 10 minutes without scoring and eventually saw the home side take the lead with an Evan Lloyd in the 15^th minute.

Ioan Hughes replied eight minutes later, but the famous Ebbw driving line out earned them the first try of the final in the 26^th minute when Corey Lewis crashed over. Lloyd added the extras and the Ebbw fans were beginning to believe the title was coming home.

The came the flurry of yellow cards that saw the game turned into a contest of 14 v 13 in the Drovers favour for the final 10 minutes of the half.

No sooner had Evans left the field than Llandovery kicked into the 22 and brought centre Rhodri crashing onto the ball, through three tackles and over for a try that Hughes improved.

That made it 10-10 at the break and forced both coaches to issue some stern words in their half-time team talks. The next score was always going to be important and two came along in as many minutes.

They both went to the Drovers as they finally found some real rhythm in their back line. Both went to right wing Harri Doel, although all the hard work was done inside him.

The first was a simple run into the corner, while the second came from the re-start. Lloyd dropped the ball on the Llandovery 22, where Jac Davies rose high to take it.

The former Wales U20 star, who has just signed his first senior contract at the Scarlets, then rode the impact of the aerial challenge, hit the ground and sped away. He went up to half-way, where he handed on to Doel to run the final 50 metres to score again.

Hughes’ conversion gave his side a 12-point cushion with 30 minutes left to play. That forced Ebbw to come out of their shell, and they threw the kitchen sink at the Drovers defence.

They got up to, but not over the line, Morgan Bosanko being deemed to have been held up, and then found themselves forced back into defence as the Drovers came again.

Hughes was wide with a penalty and then Rees dribbled the ball the length of the 22 before pouncing to score his final try for the club. It pushed the lead out to 17 points with 17 minutes to go and that really was the end for The Steelmen.

If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.

Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.

You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.