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Bedwas 21-15 Ystalyfera
Bedwas survived a late Ystalyfera surge to hold on for victory in what was a keenly-fought WRU National Championship clash at the Bridgefield.
The visitors dominated the set piece throughout the game but had no answer to the Bedwas driving maul.
It was from a scrum penalty that Ystalyfera took the lead as outside half Gareth James slotted over a goal after ten minutes to put his side ahead.
Bedwas responded with a well worked driving maul buta try-scoring opportunity was squandered when Owen Jones dropped the ball as he crossed the tryline.
However, no mistakes were made from a similar driving maul two minutes later, where permit signing Matt Dwyer grabbed a try. Dion McIntosh made no mistake with the conversion.
Midway through the half, Ystalyfera’s Iestyn Scott’s long-range penalty fell just short of the posts before his centre colleague Tom Powell was sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident.
His absence didn’t seem to cause his fellow players too much hardship and although James missed a penalty chance shortly afterwards, right-wing Luc Caines found space off the back of a scrum to cross for a try. Gareth James missed the conversion.
Bedwas fought hard to get back into the game and, just before half time, Lewis Bowden followed up a good run to sprint through unopposed for a try. McIntosh’s conversion put Bedwas 14-8 ahead as the referee blew for the interval.
A determined Bedwas came out for the second half looking to put the game to bed. Lewis Bowden emerged from a pile of bodies to claim his second try of the afternoon, again converted by McIntosh, to put his side 14 points clear.
With three tries already in the bag, the hosts looked for their fourth to secure a bonus-point – but lost possession at key times as chances evaporated.
Late in the game, a hack through and chase almost the length of the pitch saw the away side come close to scoring but, with the ball judged to held up over the tryline, had to settle for a five-metre scrum.
As had been the case all afternoon Bedwas’ scrum was struggling to cope and it was no different on this occasion as the referee, ruling Bedwas had impinged one times too many, awarded Ystalyfera a penalty try.
The visitors continued to put Bedwas under pressure in the scrum, with the sin-binning of Bedwas prop Ben Drew adding to the hosts’ difficulties.
A series of scrums followed but Ystalyfera were kept out from scoring a decisive try and the referee finally called a halt to proceedings after a lengthy period of stoppage time.
In their next game, on Saturday, January 29, Bedwas make the short trip to Beddau RFC, with the game kicking-off 2.30pm.
Imagery and match report by Ian Lovell of Bedwas RFC
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