Swalec Cup round-up

Neath, Aberavon and Carmarthen Quins all moved to within one match of the Swalec Cup final, after defeating Bargoed, Swansea and Blackwood respectively.

The Welsh All Blacks are hoping to make their 13th appearance in the final in May, overcame a never say die Bargoed 39-27 at the Gnoll.

Indiscipline cost the Championship side dearly as they had two players - centre Simon Parry and replacement Mikey Roberts – sin-binned and during their time off the field, the Welsh All Blacks scored three converted tries.

Fly-half Dai Langdon once again played a starring role for Neath as he bagged 19 points through a try, four conversions and two penalties.

From the moment Langdon crossed the line after only a minute, Neath always appeared to be in control as they established a commanding 24-5 half-time advantage.

Parry was shown the yellow card by Porthcawl referee Ian Davies after 25 minutes, and Gareth Gravell and Bowdy Davies both took advantage to go over for tries during his time in the bin.

Later on, Roberts was also dispatched to the side-lines and wing Chris Morgans made the most of his absence to cross, before Roy Jones then touched down for Neath as they continued to dominate proceedings.

Bargoed’s most potent attacking threat, full-back Andrew McLaughlin, opened his side’s account two minutes before the break, but injured himself in crossing the line and left the field with the game held up for 10 minutes.

Visiting wing Gareth Dare was also stretchered off, a major blow to the Championship side's hopes of causing an upset.

Shortly after, however, Lee Williams pounced for Bargoed’s second try, while Simon Parry and Craig Lynch scored in injury time for Neath. Josh Prosser kicked two conversions and a penalty.

In the all Premiership clash, Aberavon overcame Swansea 23-16 in a hard-fought win at an Arctic St Helens.

Wizards legendary fly half Jamie Davies crossed the 4,000 points threshold for his club as he added 13 points to his personal tally, while centre Matthew Jenkins claimed a brace for the visitors.

Swansea and Aberavon have had a torrid time of it this season in the league and both sides knew a Cup run would be just the tonic for their supporters.

It was the Wizards that drew first blood as centre Matthew Jenkins darted through a gap in the hosts' defence to score, with Davies adding the extras.

However, it was the All Whites that would lead at the interval thanks to a Richard Williams touchdown and eight points from the boot of full back Nick J Thomas, and on the stroke of half time, Aberavon’s Chris Davies was given ten minutes to cool down by referee Neil Hennessey for a dangerous tackle.

The start of the second half saw Jamie Davies and Thomas exchange penalties as Aberavon negated the fact they were a player short.

With the Wizards restored to their full compliment, a sublime pass from fly half Davies put centre Jenkins in space and the midfield maestro outpaced the Swansea defence to cross, with Davies again on target with the extras.

The critical blow for the All Whites came as the match moved into the final ten minutes as hooker Paul John was yellowed.  The Wizards controlled proceedings well with the boot of Davies firing home two further penalties, then, to put the match out of Swansea’s reach.

Carmarthen Quins booked their place in the semis with a routine victory over Championship side Blackwood on Saunday in a game delayed 24 hours by the storms that swept across Wales.

The battling Gwent side did themselves credit with some enterprising rugby, but found the Quins pack far too strong.

The Quins, still in with an outside chance of making the Principality Premiership play-offs, raced out of the blocks and found themselves 10 points up after only 11 minutes.

Jack Maynard struck a sweet penalty to open the score, before hooker Richard Wilkes crossed for the afternoon’s opening try, converted by Maynard.

Blackwood, who have not enjoyed the best of seasons, responded swiftly with a magnificent length-of-the-field touchdown by Mark Williams.

Sean Bennett secured the Quins' second try, which Maynard converted, and then impressive full-back Jack Dixon made the game a little more secure for the West Walians with an unconverted try just before the break.

Centre Rheon James went over early in the second-half, and by then it was simply a case of how many the Quins would win by. Haydn Pugh rounded off the travelling side's scoring with an unconverted try six minutes from time.

To their credit, Blackwood never gave up and made the scoreline more respectable in injury time when wing Rhodri Usher touched down for a try which Paul Emmanuelli converted.

The other Swalec Cup quarter-final was postponed, with Ebbw Vale and Pontypridd yet to rearrange their mouth-watering tie.