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Narberth 13-20 Bedwas, WRU National Championship
Bedwas produced one of their best performances of the season as they staged a comeback win away to Narberth on Saturday, February 18.
It was Bedwas’ third win on the bounce in the WRU National Championship – and the occasion was marked by captain Dale Rogers making his 100th appearance for the club.
Bedwas started the game well but conceded the first points against the run of play, with Narberth scrum-half Lewys Gibby exploiting a gap in the Bedwas defence to cross for a try. Nick Gale’s conversion went wide.
Soon after, Bedwas had the chance to reduce the arrears, but James Dixon’s 30-metre penalty drifted wide.
The visitors continued to press but were frustrated on a few occasions when the driving maul was halted.
They were soon dealt a blow when Lewis Bowden, an ever-present this season, suffered a knee injury seven minutes before half-time. He was replaced by Liam Jenkins.
Shortly after, Bedwas found themselves further behind thanks to a second Lewys Gibby try – but Gale was once again unsuccessful with the conversion attempt – giving Narberth a 10-0 lead at the break.
Without doubt the wind was to play a major part in the second half. With the wind at their backs, Bedwas finally managed to put together a driving maul from a line-out 20 metres from goal.
The pack worked hard to drive Rhys Hutcherson over for a try, with James Dixon’s conversion narrowing the home advantage to a slender three points.
That three-point lead was cancelled out just after the hour mark when a Dixon penalty drew the sides level.
Bedwas continued to use the elements to their advantage and although Dixon missed the chance to give his side the lead from a penalty in the 69th minute, he made no mistake three minutes later as Bedwas took the lead for the first time.
But three minutes later Narberth equalised after a high tackle gifted them a penalty, which Gale notched between the posts to exceed a personal landmark of 1,000 points for his club.
Narberth looked to have secured a draw but with just a minute left of play, Bedwas’ Aaron Billingham made a break before offloading to full-back Lloyd Wilkins, who touched down the winning try in the corner.
Dixon sealed the extra two points with the conversion from out wide to wrap up the scoring.
Narberth battled on in the dying moments but conceded a penalty just as the referee looked to call time on proceedings. Dixon kicked the ball into touch to get Bedwas’ celebrations underway.
The win sees Bedwas remain eighth in the table, having won seven and lost six of their first 13 league games.
Bedwas will now turn their attentions to second-place Neath, who they welcome to the Bridgefield for a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, February 25.
The game will be followed by the Wales v England Six Nations clash, which will be shown at Bedwas’ clubhouse and will be followed by a free over-18s disco.
Match report and imagery courtesy of Ian Lovell of Bedwas RFC
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