The boot of full back Ed Howley steered Neath to the victory that pushed them into second place in the table and a semi-final against Cross Keys. Newport will host Llanelli in the other semi-final.
Defeat for the Ravens left them one point outside the top four and brought their season to an end. They couldn’t match the power and ferocity of the Neath pack in the opening half and three yellows and one red card didn’t help their cause.
The visitors lost Cai Lewis after 40 minutes, Matthew John on 48 and Iestyn Merriman on 56. They then lost skipper James Murphy to a red card on 78 minutes after Neath had seen prop Neil White pick up a red card or punching on 56 minutes.
Neath dominated the opening exchanges and when scrum half Chris Morgan scampered over for the first score it was nothing less than they deserved. Wing Aaron Grabham then added a second try and Howley improved that one to give the home side a 12 point lead.
Murphy clawed back a penalty just before the break for Bridgend and when left wing Ryan Griffiths ran in a try which Murphy converted the gap had been cut to two points with 16 minutes left to play. Neath were forced to dig deep and they rode the storm well enough to earn three more penalties for Howley to kick them clear.
It was Neath’s eighth win of the season and they are the lowest ranked of the teams from the first half of the season to reach the play-offs. They were 14th of the 16 teams in the first phase of the tournament.
Last season the Welsh All Blacks managed only one win and a draw in their 22 games and were firmly anchored to the bottom of the table. Eight league wins is their best return since 2012/13 and will give head coach Gareth Llewellyn something to build on as they move into the play-offs.
