League leaders Bedwas slumped to a second successive defeat on Friday night as they went down 28-25 at Rodney Parade against a fired-up Newport side and are only one point clear of Ponty, who beat them handsomely last weekend.
With a number of academy players on duty with Cardiff Blues, and former Wales outside half Ceri Sweeney away at a veterans tournament in Dubai, Pontypridd have been forced to dig deep into their resources for the clash against the Steelmen.
Shay Smallman is given a start at lock, with Harvey Connolly and Joseph Williams on the bench. Outside half Jordan Rees from Mountain Ash and hooker Grant Jones and flanker Sion Edwards from Porth are drafted in as cover.
Newport took the lead with a try at the posts in the second minute by livewire scrum half Owen Davies that Matt O’Brien converted, but Bedwas hit back within five minutes with a try of their own from Mikey Callow that Steff Jones improved to level the scores.
A second Newport try from Haydn Palmer regained the lead before No 8 Geraint Edmunds barged his way over for the visitors and Jones’ second conversion of the night edged them ahead, 14-12. The two sides swapped penalties to leave the table-toppers leaving 17-15 at the break.
Bedwas did to their hosts at the start of the second half what they had done to them in the opening period by scoring almost immediately from the kick off with George Lee going over to extend their lead. There was no conversion this time, but O’Brien was on target a few minutes later when centre Chay Smith crossed for a third Newport try to level things up at 22-22.
As the tension mounted, so the penalties began to come. O’Brien booted the Black & Ambers back in front on 71 minutes, but Jones responded on 80 to level things up again.
The chance for victory seemed lost until Bedwas infringed once more in injury time and up stepped O’Brien to hammer the final nail in the visitors’ coffin and notch a notable victory for his side.
Cardiff travel to Merthyr hoping to build on their bonus-point victory over Newport. Lock Miles Normandale and back row man Tom Daley will both be returning to The Wern having played for the Ironmen in the past.
New signing, former Wales Under 20 hooker Corrie Tarrant, is included on the bench, where he joins another new face in scrum half Geraint Williams, on permit from Tata Steel.
“I was pleased with the performance last week and we need to continue that level this week. Travelling to the home of the Champions is always going to be a tough ask and, with the Ironmen starting to hit some form recently, we know how tough a challenge this will be,” said Cardiff head coach Steve Law.
“If we can put in an honest performance, and give a good account of ourselves, who knows, we may be able to spring a surprise. We trained well this week and there were several plus points from our analysis of last week’s win, including one of the lowest missed tackles counts this season.”
Principality Premiership East Division – Round 9
3 November
Newport 28-25 Bedwas
Newport: Haydn Simons; Haydn Palmer, Chay Smith, Adam Sabri, Corey Howells; Matt O’Brien, Owen Davies; Phil Price, Will Evans, Ken Dowding, Rhys Creswell, Adam Brown, Alex Everett, Kyle Tayler, Rhys Jenkins (captain)
Reps: Nicky Boyce, Evan Whitson, Tom Piper, Joe Cullimore, Josh Reid, Ryan James, Geraint O’Driscoll, Wes Cunliffe
Bedwas: Aaron Bramwell; Mike Hathaway, Ross Wardle, Mike Callow, Matthew John; Steffan Jones, Luke Crane; Dan Preece, Alun Rees, Rhys Hutcherson, James Richards, Geraint Edmunds, Nathan Hudd, George Lee, Andrew Waite
Reps: Dale Rogers, Brynley Toms, Lloyd Bridges, Ben Thompson, Craig Hudd, Adam Williams, Connor Edwards, Tom Rowlands
4 November
Bargoed v Cross Keys
Merthyr v Cardiff
Pontypridd v Ebbw Vale
Teams
Bargoed v Cross Keys
Bargoed: Callum Jones; Luke Smalley, Ashley Norton, Darren Humphries, Dai Evans; Iain Smerdon, James Pizey; Kieron Brown, Geraint Clarke, Scott Evans, Matthew Thomas, Louis Blacker (captain), Adam Coupe, Grant Rogers, Ieuan Jones
Reps: James Hallett, Julian Mogg, Louis Bowden, Lewis Johnson, Lewis Weyman, Alex Gardner-Key, Leigh Meades, Rhys Morgan
Cross Keys: Leon Andrews; Mathew Powell, Lewis Barnett, Phil Williams, Joe Goodchild; Josh Prosser, James Leadbeater; Corey Hewlett, Will Griffiths, Richard Cornock, Tom Lampard, Josh Skinner, Taine Basham, Scott Matthews (captain), Adam Powell
Reps: Rob Jones, Lewis Smout, Gary Carpenter, Dan Mock, Barney Nightingale, Corey Shephard, Ross Pritchard, David Richards.
Merthyr v Cardiff
Merthyr: Matthew Jarvis; Kyle Evans, Tom Riley, Arran Pinches, Kristian Phillips; Gareth Davies, Justin James; James Howe, Matt Dwyer, Louis Jones, Ben Murphy, Craig Locke (captain), Ed Siggery, Osian Davies, Nathan White
Reps: Rhys James, Richard Wilkes, Joe Rees, Ben Sier, Phil Rees, Rhys Downes, Richard Powell, Steff Andrews
Cardiff: Dan Fish; James Beal, Will Rees-Hole, Jack Phillips, Ceri Young; Gareth Thompson, Rhodri Cole; Rhys Carre, Ian Jenkins, Peter Lloyd, Miles Normandale, James Murphy, Tom Daley, Ben White, Dan Crimmins
Reps: James Greenfield, Corrie Tarrant, Tom Mably, Reuben Tucker, Luke Crocker, Geraint Watkins, Ben Thomas, Lewis Reece
Pontypridd v Ebbw Vale
Pontypridd: Lloyd Rowlands; Alex Webber, Geraint Walsh, Dafydd Lockyer (captain), Dale Stuckey; Diggy Bird, Wayne Evans; Chris Phillips, Huw Dowden, Will Davies-King, Shay Smallman, Chris Dicomidis, Sean Moore, Rhys Shellard, Morgan Sieniawski
Reps: Joel Raikes, Jordan Rees, Joseph Williams, Grant Jones, Sion Edwards, Harvey Connolly, Huw Owen, Jon Elley
Ebbw Vale: Dan Haymond; Steffan Thomas, Srdan Majkic, Dom Franchi, Toby Fricker; Lewis Dennett, Carl Lewis; Joel Harries, Rhys Francis, Robert Sevenoaks, Kristian Parker, Lance Randall, Rhys Clarke, Ronny Kynes (captain), Cameron Regan
Reps: Ross Jones, Joe Franchi, Josh James, Josh Jacas, Owen Jones, Dan Babos, Callum Hall, Garyn Payne
