With the Mount Pleasant Park outfit knowing anything less than a bonus point victory would see them drop down a division in their last game of the season, Rhys Morgan’s penalty agonisingly struck the upright when the scores were tied at 45-all.
The roller coaster result leaves Blackwood’s own hopes of avoiding the same fate as Beddau in the balance but still very much in their own hands as they hover just above the drop-zone with two games to play.
Rhys Watkins scored a brace of tries for the Gwent side, while Matthew Hutcheon, Sean Higgins, Gareth Williams, Dean Gibbs and Mark Curtis also crossed the whitewash. For Beddau, Dan Fox, Bradley Coombes, Chris Francis, David Francis, Rhys Morgan and two penalty tries completed their seven try haul, with Morgan converting five of those scores.
Bottom side Bonymaen are the only team that can rob Blackwood of their Swalec Championship status but even a bonus point win when the two sides meet on May 10 may not be enough to save themselves after they slipped to their 19th loss of the season, going down 33-0 at home to champions Ebbw Vale.
Blackwood travel to Llanharan this coming Saturday and a losing bonus point will see them survive at the expense of Bonymaen and render their final round encounter at Glan-yr-Afon Park irrelevant in terms of the regulation battle. Even if Blackwood do leave Llanharan with nothing this weekend, a single point at home to Bonymaen would again be enough to keep them up a week later.
At the other end of the table, Ebbw Vale – who are just two wins away from an perfect season – picked up their 22nd bonus point this campaign as tries from Ashley Sweet, Cameron Regan, Gareth Rusby-Davies, Chris Thomas and Dai James made light work of Bonymaen at Parc Mawr.
Meanwhile, the race for second in the division remains very much alive after Cardiff Met and RGC 1404 were both beaten. The Students went down 16-3 at Bridgend Athletic, where Iestyn Merriman and Luke Hollyman went over for Athletic’s tries, while Bargoed powered to a 36-17 victory over the North Walians.
Elsewhere, Pontypool could move up to third if they win their remaining games after a try treble from Lloyd Lewis helped them thrash Tata Steel 38-5 in Port Talbot, while Narberth remain fourth thanks to a narrow 22-17 triumph over Llanharan.
In the day’s other fixture, Newbridge moved clear of the battle at the bottom after they notched up their seventh win of the season as they edged past Tondu 17-15 at the Welfare Ground.
