Bargoed 29-46 Glynneath
Saturday May 7, Bargoed
This was not the way that Bargoed would have wanted to celebrate their promotion to the Principality Premiership.
After a week of celebrations following the 17-8 victory over Pontypool, a much-changed starting line-up for the Blues were outscored and outplayed by relegation-threatened Glynneath.
It was the boot of the visitors’ outside-half Jack O’Reilly which made the biggest difference, with four conversions and two penalties proving decisive.
Glynneath were quickest out of the blocks with a try from hooker Craig Tennant after just five minutes, converted by O’Reilly.
Blues scrum-half Matthew Hutcheon got one back following good support work from winger Duane Dyer and full-back Lee Pearson, who was playing his last game. It went unconverted and O’Reilly added a penalty for the visitors to make it 5-10 after 13 minutes.
Referee Sean Brickell sensibly called a water break mid way through the first half to give the players some respite in the humid conditions.
Glynneath scored just after the restart with full-back Josh Ferriman collecting a chip which sat up perfectly, crossing under the posts to give O’Reilly the easiest of conversions to take the score to 5-17 at the break.
Bargoed No8 Ross Coombes closed the gap with a converted try early into the second half before Glynneath hit back through prop Nicky Boyce. O’Reilly once again converted to make it 12-24.
The Blues threw caution to the wind to get back into the game, but were punished by another kick which sat up helpfully for winger Alex Burton to cross under the posts for their bonus-point try.
O’Reilly nailed the subsequent conversion, and added a further penalty to increase the gap to 22 points.
Phil Price got one back for Bargoed to make it 17-34 but the Blues couldn’t sustain any sort of dominance as James Parry and Burton scored Glynneath’s fifth and sixth tries to silence the home crowd.
With the game already beyond them, Bargoed finally got their power game going with winger Gareth Dare picking up the bonus-point try with five minutes left.
The hosts weren’t quite done, and scored again courtesy of a penalty try as a result of a powerful drive at a scrum. Marc Gwilt slotted the conversion.
The Bargoed supporters were left scratching their heads trying to recall the last time their team shipped more than 40 points, as referee Brickell ended the game and Bargoed’s season with the score 29 – 46.
The focus now turns to preparations for at least three years in the Principality Premiership, after the WRU confirmed the proposed ring-fencing of the division from the 2016/17 season.
• Match report by Peter Greening of Bargoed RFC.