In front of the biggest crowd at the Bridgefield this season a strong second half earned Ebbw Vale the victory as Bedwas failed to put enough points on the board whilst dominating the first half.
With a breeze at their backs Bedwas could have been first on the board but Powell’s long range kick after just four minutes was just wide but four minutes later he made amends and put his side ahead.
Both sets of forwards battled hard but couldn’t force a breakthrough. Iain Smerdon had a chance to bring Ebbw level but his penalty chance was missed before Powell added his second of the game to extend the home advantage.
Bedwas continued to put the visitors under pressure but could not make the breakthrough as Ebbw defended for their lives. Just before the interval Powell missed another attempted long range penalty, a miss the home side were to rue.
Ebbw Vale came out for the second half in determined mood and their forwards began to dominate. With the visitors scrum now on top Bedwas transgressed and the referee awarded a penalty try. Smerdon adding the conversion. Suddenly the hordes of Ebbw supporters awoke too and willed on by their vociferous supporter’s winger Tom James crossed for their second try, Smerdon missing the conversion.
Bedwas made a stack of substitutions and put the visitors under pressure. Having spurned a close range penalty in favour of a scrum Bedwas were rewarded with a fine try from Arron Pinches who ran through from a great angle. Powell missed the conversion but with 15 minutes left on the clock the game was finely balanced.
Both sides looked for that game clinching score but neither were successful and Ebbw Vale hung on for the win their second half performance deserved with Bedwas having to settle for a losing bonus point.
Bedwas will hope to put the train back on the track next Saturday when they visit Neath, kick off at the Gnoll is at 2.30pm.
Llanelli 58 Bridgend 21
It was a festive cracker for Bridgend Ravens to forget as they slumped to a heavy defeat at Parc y Scarlets.
Spirits were high amongst the travelling supporters following last weekend’s bonus point win over Neath. Llanelli were in no mood to spread any Christmas cheer as they stormed into a 15-0 lead within 11 minutes.
Frazier Climo opened the scoring after 45 seconds before Owain Morgan added a second just three minutes later. The boot of Josh Lewis added to the scores to put Llanelli well in control.
The Scarlets were not finished there. Kyle Evans and Jordan Williams both scored before half time to all but win the game for Llanelli. Gary Carpenter was able to give Bridgend some hope with a try late on in the first period following some superb forward pressure, but that’s as good as it got for the Ravens.
To their credit, the Ravens staged a mini comeback in the second period to give the home side a scare. Bridgend got on the board with two well worked tries through Mike Powell and Tom O’Flaherty, but the West Walians were too good for the Ravens.
They managed to score further tries through Ben Leung, Kyle Evans (2, to complete a hat-trick) and Craig Price. These scores were all improved by the boot of the impressive Jordan Williams, with Josh Lewis kicking some points of his own to extend the margin.
Carmarthen Quins 29 Llandovery 7
Memories of last Saturday’s Aberavon defeat were well and truly buried as both Quins coaches and players had taken stock of that event and corrected everything.
A local seasonal derby anywhere, throws up strange happenings, and this one was no different.
The Quins were in the mood that has served them well over the past two seasons, i.e confident thinking, solid set piece and their defence was nothing short of awesome. This combination seldom fails.
Playing condition consisted of heavy showers combined with a cold wind blowing towards the town, making things difficult for both player and spectator.
Despite this, both sides were bent on entertaining their support and with the Drovers winning the toss they elected to play into the elements.
The opening exchanges indicated the vastly improved attitude of the Quins players with skipper Ian Jones leading from the front, and his pack responded with a powerful display through out.
The Drovers had the first chance to change the scoreboard but James Garland, a former Quins player, narrowly missed a fifth minute penalty. This was followed by Rhodri Clancy making a telling 20 metre break taking play into the visitors 22, and when they were caught off side, Daniel Jones was on target with his 45 metre penalty.
Using the wind to good effect, the Quins half backs steered their side into the Drovers 22 and Haydn Pugh, who was playing his 100th League match for the Quins, secured the line out ball and from a controlled surge, Ellis Lloyd, who was also playing his 100th League match, was able to use his strength to crash over after 30 minutes. Daniel Jones took the Quins into double figures with the conversion.
The home support were left wondering if their 10 points were going to be enough when the second half began , however, it seems the interval talk was to prove the inspiration to take the Quins up a gear.
Early in the second half Ellis Lloyd made a break that gained 40 meters. The resulting line out was won and the Quins pack repeated the opening try surge, to give Ellis Lloyd his second try in the vicarage cornet Daniel Jones put the conversion over from the touch line.
Any Drovers attack was dealt with efficiently and the Quins defence held firm. Kieron Hardy and Dan Jones were using their kicking game to gain ground and demoralise the visitors.
The Quins scrum was getting stronger as the game went on, and from this control, they took play into the visitors 22 and from a maul near the right touch line, Hardy slung out a long pass that gave Daniel Jones the chance to highlight his improvement and his accurate pass gave Iolo Evans room to pick out Lee Williams who came into the line, and his genius did the rest to see him cross for this seasons best try, Daniel Jones made it 24 points with the conversion.
The Drovers were not out and they stormed up field to win a penalty and with it the Quins had a player yellow carded. From this advantage and three set piece attempts Llandovery were rewarded with a penalty try for Garland to convert.
With time running out and a home victory assured the Quins were all out to gain that bonus point score.
With slick accurate passing, and all their backs handling, Sion Bennet was able to squeeze over in the corner, to gain that important fourth try. The conversion missed and the referee brought this fine contest to a close
This performance will encourage the squad who travel to Pontypridd next Saturday.
The team performance was the most encouraging point and more improvement can be expected.
