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Tata Steel 20-47 Bedwas, WRU National Championship, Saturday May 6
Seven-try Bedwas breezed past Tata Steel for a well-deserved win on a warm afternoon in Port Talbot.
The hosts had the chance to open the scoring but fly-half Chris Harris’ penalty grazed the upright before going wide.
Instead it was Bedwas who opened the scoring after 14 minutes when scrum-half Iwan Burgwin burst through for a try, which was converted by James Dixon.
But the lead was short-lived, with Tata’s Will Cutler intercepting a pass two minutes later and running through for a try, converted by Harris to draw the sides level.
However, three minutes later Bedwas were ahead again. Burgwin grabbed his second try of the afternoon, which was again converted by Dixon.
Try number three followed five minutes later, with Rhys Hutcherson being driven over the line for an unconverted try.
The four-try bonus-point was sealed shortly afterwards, when Adam Williams dodged a number of would-be tacklers to score. Dixon added the two extra points.
The hosts pulled a second try back through hooker Jae Alexander, but the conversion was missed.
Bedwas added a fifth try before the break, with Adam Williams crossing under the posts for his second try of the game.
Dixon’s conversion sent Bedwas into the interval with a 33-12 lead.
Seven minutes after the restart, Bedwas’ lead was extended further as Burgwin completed a hat-trick of tries – with Dixon scoring the conversion as the visitors hit 40 points.
The deficit was dented somewhat shortly after when Tata’s Harris kicked a drop goal to add three points to his side’s tally.
But Bedwas hit back with their seventh try, this time from Harry Oliver who galloped through from deep to score, while Dixon added two extra points.
A raft of Bedwas replacements saw Adam Williams, Mike Dacey and Rhys Hutcherson make way for Sam Davies, Josh Dunleavy and Ieuan John respectively.
However, Dacey’s game was far from over. He re-entered the field to replace Ben Drew after an hour of play.
Later on, with just minutes to go, Bedwas were reduced to 14 men when Dylan Morgan was sent to the sin bin for failing to retreat.
It led to a Tata penalty, which led to Taran Jones running through for an unconverted consolation try.
The win saw Bedwas move up to seventh in the league table, one place above Cross Keys.
After the game, Dacey announced he had played his last game for Bedwas and will be joining his late father’s club St Peters.
Bedwas’ next game comes at the Bridgefield on Saturday May 13, hosting Ystrad Rhondda for a 2.30pm kick-off.
Match report and imagery courtesy of Ian Lovell of Bedwas RFC
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