Bedwas’ survival hopes were dealt a blow as they were beaten 30-10 by Swansea at a windy St Helens ground on Saturday (December 8).
The visitors were outscored five tries to one by a clinical Swansea side in their first match without Mark Lewis as Director of Rugby.
Bedwas stay 12th in the Principality Premiership and remain in a relegation battle.
It was the worst of starts for Bedwas, who went behind when centre Joe Thomas scored his first try of the game after possession was squandered. Steff Williams converted for two extra points.
Scrum-half Matthew Aubrey added a second try in the corner to extend the deficit to 12-0.
Another Bedwas error followed as winger Ryan Griffiths intercepted a pass and raced through for another try.
But there was hope yet for the trailing side when Swansea’s influential outside-half Steff Williams was forced off with injury, but opportunities to take advantage were limited.
Swansea’s Aubrey kicked a penalty just before the half-time whistle to give them a 20-0 lead.
Bedwas came back out after the break knowing they had to score first to stand any chance of salvaging something from the game.
A penalty from Joe Scrivens meant Bedwas did exactly that, marginally closing the gap between the sides.
But when replacement winger Jordan Rees was sin-binned for a late tackle, the comeback task looked even more difficult.
But that didn’t stop substitute Dale Rogers smuggling the ball over the try-line in the 64th minute. Scrivens’ conversion brought the score back to within ten points.
However, the hosts refused to surrender their lead, with substitute back-rower Jon Vaughan adding an unconverted try to crush late hopes of a comeback.
The game was rounded off when centre Thomas scored his second try of the game to increase the lead to 30-10 and cap off a dominant Swansea display.
Bedwas will return to action on Saturday, December 15 when they face league leaders Pontypridd at Sardis Road. The game kicks off at 5.15pm and will be aired on S4C.
Match report and imagery by Ian Lovell