Sunday 3 March 2013

Steelmen tighten their grip at the summit

Ebbw Vale tightened their grip at the top of the Championship as they totally outclassed basement boys Whitland 66-0 at Eugene Cross Park.

The Steelmen’s solitary defeat this year came in the reverse of this fixture back in October, but the Borderers were unable to muster any resistance to Jason Strange’s men, who crossed nine times in total.

Centre Adam Jones claimed a hat-trick for the hosts, while wing Luke Davies and Dan Ajuwa bagged braces. Ronny Kynes, Charlie Simpson and Dan Haymond also crossed.

Their emphatic success was in contrast to the tense 15-8 victory achieved by second-placed Bargoed at out-of-sorts Narberth.

Darren Humphries and Gareth Davies each went over for tries, one of which was converted by Josh Prosser who also landed a penalty, while the Otters’ points came from a Steve Martin try and James Russell penalty.

At the wrong end of the table, Glamorgan Wanderers are now ten points adrift of safety after they lost out at home to relegation rivals Bridgend Athletic, 39-15.

Athletic claimed a bonus point as they outclassed the hapless Wanderers, helping themselves to five tries including a double from Stuart Morris, while Steve Lewis booted 14 points.

The shock of the day came at Newbridge where struggling Bonymaen belied their lowly league position to defeat their fourth placed hosts, claiming their sixth win of the season 29-17.

Nathan Brookes was the hero of the day for the Swansea side as the wing picked up a hat-trick, with John Jones also going over.

In a tasty encounter at the Dairyfield, Cardiff Met continued their fine form to see off hosts Llanharan, 27-22.
Cardiff Met led 27-10 thanks to tries from Miles Normandale, Jack Lavin and Ben Axten-Burrett, while Matt O’Brien bagged 12 points with the boot. Both sides were then reduced to 14 players when the students' Will Norton was dismissed for a tip tackle, but Bill Carey’s retaliation saw him also taking an early bath.

The Dairymen did fight back with tries from Tom Marley and Scott Malone and could have clinched the win at the death, but had to settle for a losing bonus point.

Two late Gareth Walters penalties gave Tata Steel a narrow, 23-22 home success over Beddau.

The Port Talbot side were behind till late on despite with from Gareth John, Robbie Morgan, Martin Luckwell 
The Green and Gold’s Tom Benjamin was both the hero and the villain of the day for the visitors as the outside half kicked 17 of his side’s points before being dismissed late on for a tip tackle, as they slipped to an agonising defeat at the death.

Finally, Pontypool were condemned to their 17th defeat as they lost 30-17 to Blackwood.
Blackwood crossed three times through Matthew McGovern, Aaron Quik and Josh Clarke, while Paul Emanueli notched up 15 points with the boot.

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