Coach makes late cameo as injury-depleted Bedwas seal bonus-point win

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Bedwas 33-14 Trebanos, WRU National Championship, Saturday April 29

Bedwas head coach Stefan Sankala came onto the pitch for a two-minute cameo as his injury-ravaged side dug in for a bonus-point win at home to Trebanos.

Sankala named himself in the matchday squad with 15 first team players unavailable for the clash at the Bridgefield.

The hosts, fresh off a derby day defeat at Bargoed, started brightly against a side with injury problems of their own and took the lead after a Liam Jenkins try, converted by James Dixon.

Aaron Billingham looked to have increased Bedwas’ lead with a try two minutes later, but it was ruled out due to a forward pass.

However, Bedwas did get their second try in the 24th minute, when Dale Rogers was driven over the line from a lineout – but Dixon failed with the conversion attempt.

During the build-up to the try, Trebanos lost one of their props through injury. Without a replacement prop on their bench, player had to be sacrificed and passive scrums were played for the remainder of the contest.

Bedwas ran in their third try before the half-time break, with Tom Chapman scoring under the posts and Dixon adding the extras.

However, the hosts found themselves a man light going into the interval, with Jack Guy sin-binned for pulling back a support player.

The Swansea valley-based visitors came out for the second-half fired up and had a penalty chance three minutes into play – but fly-half Rob Jones failed to dissect the uprights.

With both sides cancelling each other out on the pitch, Trebanos brought on three youth players to give them some fresh impetus.

But it was Bedwas who were next to score, with Rogers getting his second try of the afternoon around the hour mark to secure the four-try bonus-point. Dixon made no mistake with the conversion.

Trebanos opened their account shortly after when replacement back-row Evan Davies crossed under the posts and Jones kicked the conversion.

The gap between the sides drew narrower when hooker Evan Kneath scored Trebanos’ second try tin minutes later, which Jones again converted.

But the visitors’ hopes of staging a comeback were dashed when Dixon scored Bedwas’ fifth try of the afternoon, which he converted himself.

As the game entered its dying stages, centre Kyle Jackson came on for his first team debut while coach Sankala also entered the fray for two minutes as Bedwas saw out a 33-14 win.

Bedwas stay eight in the league table ahead of their next match, which is away to league leaders Pontypool on Wednesday May 3.

Match report and imagery courtesy of Ian Lovell of Bedwas RFC