Bargoed and Bedwas stay in top two after wins

Beddau RFC 3 Bedwas RFC 21

A brace of tries from scrum-half Rory Harries helped Bedwas maintain their winning run to seven league games and cement second place in the WRU National Championship table.

A wet afternoon greeted Bedwas making the pitch slippery but otherwise fine. A mistake from kick-off put Beddau on the front foot, for the first ten minutes they pressured Bedwas, but a strong defence kept them at bay before they opted to take a kickable penalty; Hywel Chatham claiming the points.

Bedwas responded almost immediately and following a driving maul Rory Harries squeezed under a couple of bodies for a try. Matty Bancroft added the conversion.

Bedwas were continuing to cause the home defence problems with well worked driving mauls and again this led to a series of drives until Dale Rogers crashed through for a try under the posts. Matty Bancroft converted.

Bedwas could have increased the lead just before half time, but Bancroft’s long-range penalty hit the crossbar and bounced back into play before being cleared to safety.

Both sides fought hard to get on the scoreboard and after around an hour played Bedwas took advantage of Beddau being reduced to fourteen men following a yellow card. 

A break by Matty Bancroft saw the ball fed to the supporting Rory Harries who made no mistake to cross by the posts. Bancroft added the extras.

Fresh legs were introduced including the returning Bedwas fly half legend Richard Powell as the team sought a four try bonus point. The home side dug deep to prevent any further scores and the game petered out, with Bedwas happily settling for the win.

Report by Ian Lovell of Bedwas RFC

Neath 20 Bargoed RFC 22

Title contenders clashed heads as Bargoed fought back for victory against third place Neath. 

Bargoed opened the scoring with a Josh Prosser penalty, but Neath responded well and scored a try which was converted to lead 7-3.

Pressure continued from the home side who soon took advantage of some poor Bargoed defending, opening up a 14-3 lead.

Bargoed continued to struggle without the ball, conceding another penalty which Neath converted to open up a two try lead at 17-3.

Bargoed scrum half James Leadbeater was yellow-carded, but the visitors responded well and were looking to play with more width.

Despite being a man down, Bargoed managed to score just before the break thanks to good work by Dylan Williams, supported by Jordan Howells who eventually scored Bargoed’s first try of the game. 17-8 at the half.

The home side scored a penalty to start the half and took their tally to 20 before a pushover scrum and try for Adam Powell converted by replacement Steffan Jones closed the gap to 20-15.

Another yellow for Bargoed – this time hooker Rhys Buckley – meant the away side were stretched for periods but coped well, refusing to concede. When back to a full side, Bargoed took the lead for the first time in the match, James Leadbeater with the score. 22-20.

Neath fought back as best they could, but a determined defensive display by the visitors meant the 12 point comeback was complete with Neath only scoring 3 points in the second half.