Ebbw Vale put the disappointment of defeat at Cardiff firmly behind them as they bounced back in style to beat Llandovery 38-29 with a bonus point in Super Rygbi Cymru.
Left wing Ewan Bowden scored twice in the first half with centre Ethan Phillips also going over to help put the Steelmen 22-15 up at the break. Evan Lloyd added two conversions and a penalty to set the Steelmen on their way to back-to-back home wins over the Drovers.
Outside half Lloyd, who ended with 18 points, sent over three more penalties in the second half and converted scrum half Jon Evans’ try to seal the deal at the Ciner Glass Community Stadium.
“We were really disappointed in ourselves as a team against Cardiff, so it was nice to get a good bonus point victory against Llandovery,” said Ebbw team manager Dan Haymond.
“This league is a tough league, there are no easy games so if you can win at home then you’re in a good place.”
Aaron Warren and Taylor Davies scored for Llandovery in the first half, while tries in the second from Evan Sheldon and captain Lee Rees ensured they left with a bonus point. Jack Maynard kicked three conversions and a penalty.
The Drovers’ defeat at the Ciner Glass last October was one of only two defeats in the entirety of last season – but Euros Evans’ men have now lost two of their first three games in SRC.
The two sides face off again at Church Bank on Saturday with the Drovers, as the inaugural holders, defending the SRC Challenge Shield for the first time on their new all-weather surface at Church Bank.
The holding club must defend the shield in all home games during the regular season. If the challenger beats them, they will become the new holder of the shield and required to defend it at their next home game.
Pontypool helped serve up a classic in Colwyn Bay but were eventually on the wrong end of a 61-42 scoreline at RGC in a brilliant 13-try thriller.
A breathless start saw both sides score two converted tries apiece inside the first 11 minutes, with RGC twice hitting back from the re-start through Dion Jones and then Sam Stoddart after captain Joel Mahoney and Marcus Jones struck early on for Pooler.
Billy McBryde and Kieran Meek duly added the extras respectively to make it 14-14. Stoddart was sent over for his second – and RGC’s third – try after 15 minutes, this time unconverted before a couple of McBryde kicks at goal edged the hosts further ahead.
Pooler responded with their third converted try after 33 minutes to pull themselves back to within four, before RGC then scored twice further before the break – first through lock Ilan Evans to secure the Gogs their first bonus point and then wing Rhys Tudor, McBryde converting both.
A further McBryde penalty – he ended with a 23 point match haul – and a try from No 8 Sam Williams after the re-start stretched the lead to 47-21 but Pooler refused to lie down. They hit back with Meek scoring and then converting his own try after 47 minutes before they broke through the RGC defence again to enable Dylan Davies to score a try that Meek again improved.
And, when Ioan Duggan went over for the visitors’ sixth try after 68 minutes, converted by Meek, it cut RGC’s lead to just five points and a sensational comeback looked on the cards.
But a couple more McBryde penalties in addition to one from Sam Earl-Jones finally took the game away from Pooler and the last word belonged to Stoddart. The left wing collected McBryde’s cross-field kick to score their seventh try, complete his hat-trick and secure RGC’s second bonus point of the afternoon – the two sides meet again at Pontypool Park on Saturday.
Ben Burnell had earlier opened the scoring with a try and also landed five penalties and the conversion to Williams’ try to help see Bridgend to victory at St Helen’s.
Captain Owen Thomas and Matthew Aubrey were the other Swansea try scorers with Josh Phillips converting all three of their tries as well as kicking a penalty.
