Bedwas were dealt a blow in their attempts to avoid relegation after being beaten at Ebbw Vale on Saturday, April 20.
Bonus-point wins for relegation rivals Llanelli and Bridgend means the battle to avoid the drop looks set to go on until the final matchday.
On a warm, sunny afternoon at Eugene Cross Park, Joe Scrivens opened the scoring with a third minute penalty to give Bedwas first blood.
But Ebbw Vale responded quickly and scored the first try of the game through winger Stefan Thomas. However, Rhys Jones’ conversion hit the upright and bounced out.
Shortly after, the lead changed hands again when Bedwas second-row Craig Hudd barged his way over the try line.
Referee Gareth John was unable to see the grounding of the ball, but the assistant referee intervened to award the try.
Scrivens added the extras as the visitors went 10-5 ahead after ten minutes of play.
Later in the first half, the hosts broke through for a try, courtesy of winger Dafydd Howells. Jones’ made amends for his earlier miss by scoring the conversion, giving Ebbw Vale the lead once more.
With momentum on their side, the Steelmen began to dominate and scored their third try three minutes before half-time when centre Paul King burst through the defence.
Jones’ converted, giving Ebbw Vale a 19-10 lead at the break.
Five minutes after play had resumed, Bedwas’ Adam Williams was sent to the sin bin for a high elbow.
Making the most of the advantage, Ebbw Vale prop Luke Garrett scored his side’s fourth try to earn a bonus point. Jones added another conversion as they game started to move out of reach for Stefan Sankala’s team.
With Williams still in the bin, Howells ran in for his second try of the game, which was improved upon by Jones to stretch the lead to 33-10.
Despite making a number of substitutions, Bedwas went further behind when Dawid Rubasniak scored Ebbw Vale’s sixth try with ten minutes left.
Jones made no mistake with the conversion as the Steelmen broke the 40-point barrier.
But the hosts didn’t stop there. Howells completed his hat-trick four minutes later, with Jones scoring his sixth conversion of the day.
Moments later, try-scorer Rubasniak was shown a yellow card, giving Bedwas a man advantage, which they capitalised on.
In the 78th minute, Dale Rogers scored Bedwas’ second try, which was converted by Jacob Chilcott.
Lewis Bowden scored Bedwas’ third try almost immediately after, with hopes of a fourth try and a bonus-point firmly in sight.
Ebbw Vale were reduced to 13-men when replacement prop Ross Jones was sin binned, but Bedwas’s hopes of a bonus-point earning try were beaten by the blast of the referee’s whistle.
Up next for Bedwas is an away match against Aberavon on Saturday, April 27, while they finish the season by welcoming Swansea to the Bridgefield the following week.
Report and imagery courtesy of Ian Lovell.