No 8 Ieuan Jones crashed over in the corner for the opening points after only three minutes and then five minutes later skipper Rhys Morgan burrowed over for a second. This time Matthew Lewis converted to give the visitors a 12 point lead.
The Black & Ambers hit back with a try from outside half Matt O’Brien that owed everything to the off load by his half-back partner Owen Davies. He added the conversion and then added the extras to a Chay Smith score on the stroke of half-time.
By then Lewis had kicked a penalty for Bargoed to give them a 15-14 lead despite having lost two players – Jones and fellow back row man Alex Herbert – to the sin-bin. The treacherous conditions made life difficult for both teams, but Bargoed adapted better and made fewer mistakes.
Scrum half James Pizey and centre Jordan Howells crossed for tries in quick succession to bag the bonus-point for the visitors and Lewis hit the target with another conversion and two penalties for a match tally of 15 points to complete a famous victory.
There was no happy return to Bedwas for their former head coach Steve Law as he saw his Cardiff side lose for the second weekend in a row as they were beaten 18-8 by the league leaders.
The only points of a tense first-half came from the boot of Cardiff outside half Gareth Thompson to give the visitors a 3-0 lead, but opposite number Steffan Jones levelled matters soon after the re-start.
Cardiff then turned a line-out five metres out into a well-worked try for centre Owen Lane to regain the lead. The key moment of the match came on the hour mark when Bedwas changed their props and immediately earned a scrum penalty.
They kicked to the corner and not only picked up a penalty try from the ensuing driving maul, but also saw Cardiff reduced to 14 men when Reuben Tucker was sent to the sin-bin for pulling it down illegally.
That made it 10-8 to the home side and hooker Alun Rees picked up a second try from a driving line-out maul to stretch the advantage. Jones added a final penalty to complete the scoring and move five points clear at the top.
Pontypridd made it three wins on the bounce to move into second place as they convincingly beat Cross Keys 26-12 at Sardis Road. Tries from Rhys Shellard, Diggy Bird and Morgan Sienawski ensured they backed up recent wins against Merthyr and Bargoed.
Shellard darted over mid-way through the half following Geraint Walsh’s surging break. Bird couldn’t add the extras but added a penalty minutes later before sprinting to the posts for a try of his own that he did convert.
Cross Keys lost Adam Howell to the sin-bin on the stroke of half-time and the visitors’ plight merely got worse when Bird added a penalty and Sienawski crashed over for the third home try. There was some consolation at the death with tries for Keys from their 17-year-old back row man Taine Basham and Leon Andrews.
A blistering second-half effort from Merthyr helped them beat Ebbw Vale 33-20 in a thriller at Eugene Cross Park. A penalty try in addition to Ed Siggery’s effort in the second-half helped the Ironmen over-turn a narrow 17-13 half-time deficit.
Ebbw took the lead early through outside half Lewis Dennet’s penalty before Matthew Jarvis coolly levelled for the visitors. Dennet restored the hosts’ advantage, but it was Merthyr who found the games’ first try mid-way through the opening half when Harri Millard slid over with Jarvis on-hand to add the extras.
Dennet narrowed the deficit once more with Siggery yellow-carded for Merthyr. Dennet and Jarvis exchanged penalties once more with ill-discipline hindering the Ironmen as flanker Osian Davies also saw yellow.
The Steelmen made Merthyr pay when Rhys Francis barrelled over to make the score 17-13 at half-time. Jarvis and Dennet swapped penalties at the start of the second half before Merthyr mounted their second half charge.
Jarvis added another penalty and then a penalty try took them clear at 26-20. Siggery then made amends for his earlier yellow-card by securing the victory for Merthyr with a try which the ever-reliable Jarvis converted.
