It certainly was an unlucky round for the bottom two teams, Ebbw Vale and Bridgend, as they suffered against Merthyr No 10 Rhys Jones and Newport pivot Matt O’Brien. Jack Maynard, the Llandovery outside half, was the other key man as he converted all five Drovers’ tries in another significant away win.
Rhys Jones came back to haunt his former team mates with a man of the match performance that enabled Merthyr to make it three wins in a row with a 19-17 success at Eugene Cross Park.
Jones proved he has lost none of his knowledge of every inch of the Eugene Cross Park as he constantly kicked his side into good positions and got the scoreboard moving with a sweet drop goal. He also kicked a penalty.
“It was pretty heavy out there so it was all about playing in the right areas. It was a tough game because they threw everything they had at us,” said man of the match, Jones.
“They fought right to the end, but we dug deep and were lucky enough to come away with the win. All season Ebbw have been close to everyone they have played and hopefully they can kick on in the New Year and get off the bottom of the table.”
The home side were left kicking themselves for missing two easy penalties and a late drop goal that could and should have turned another narrow defeat into a much needed victory. Full back Dan Haymond pulled two seemingly straightforward penalties wide of the mark at the start of the second half and then outside half Lewis Williams fluffed his lines from the 22 in front of the posts with a drop goal three minutes from time.
Williams was then handed the chance to go from zero to hero with the final kick of the game in the 81st minute, but it was a shot from 48 metres and it was way beyond his range.
Despite their lowly position, Ebbw scrapped for their lives and hit back after the early drop goal with a penalty try awarded by referee Ben Whitehouse for a deliberate knock-on by Merthyr full back Matthew Jarvis, who also went to the sin-bin.
Jones’ penalty was the only score while Jarvis was off the field, although Haymond soon responded with a penalty of his own for the home side. But the champions finished the first-half with a flourish with a try from flanker Jake Thomas, which Jarvis converted off the touchline.
The full back then made it 16-10 to his side at the break with a monster penalty from a metre inside his own half. The Steelmen needed to score first in the second half, but Haymond missed twice and skipper Ashley Sweet had a try ruled out by the TMO because Merthyr scrum half Justin James had been taken out by the referee in the build-up.
Jarvis extended Merthyr’s lead with another penalty, but hooker Will Griffiths powered over to haul the home side back into the contest. Haymond converted, but Lewis Williams pushed a 77th minute drop goal off the 22 wide of the mark.
It was a similar tale of woe for fellow strugglers Bridgend, who saw victory snatched from their grasp with the final kick of the game by O’Brien. Moments earlier the home side had scored their fifth try of a resurgent second half, but then conceded a penalty that eventually cost them what would have been only their fourth win of the campaign.
O’Brien stepped up to hit the mark from a wide-angle on the home 10 metre line and turn a 36-35 defeat into a 38-36 triumph. The Black & Ambers outside half had already scored one of his side’s five tries and kicked four conversions and ended the game with 16 points.
“I felt I was kicking alright and I was pretty confident I could reach. It was a good strike and it went over,” said O’Brien.
“It has got to be up there among the top kicks of my career because it was a very important game for us to win after four successive defeats. I’m not sure why we fell away so badly in the second half and it could have been another game like the one we threw away against Pontypridd.
“Before the game we would have taken the five points, so even though Bridgend came back to claim two points it is still an important result for us. Not we have to build on it.”
Newport dominated the opening 40 minutes and were good value for their 21-3 interval lead. They started with a penalty try, given when home prop Cai Lewis pulled down a driving maul and was sent to the sin-bin, and also had scores from debutant lock Ben Carter and centre Jon Morris.
O’Brien improved both and the only points of a cowed first-half performance from the home side came from an Owen Howe penalty. It was a different story after the break.
Newport notched their bonus-point try seven minutes into the second half when flanker Kyle Tayler was driven over and another O’Brien conversion stretched the lead to 25 points.
That finally stung Bridgend into action and they suddenly began to make ground and score tries. Skipper Nathan Edwards was the first to cross and two minutes later Chris Williams rounded off a 60 metre move.
Jacob Chilcott converted the first to cut the gap to 13 points and not even an O’Brien try and conversion could dent the home revival. Flying wing Dewi Cross scored twice, Chilcott added the conversions and it was suddenly a one score game.
Then came a penalty try for the home side from a driving line-out and it looked as though they were going to pull off a famous win. But Newport regained the re-start, won a penalty and O’Brien did the rest.
There were 10 tries to savour in a game in which the lead changed hands four times in the second half, but the power of the Llandovery pack finally shone through to earn them a big 35-29 victory over RGC in Colwyn Bay.
With two games in hand on the top teams, the Drovers are now rising up the table and could find themselves challenging at the top when they finally play catch-up.
“We needed that win and it has been coming. We had an opportunity to beat Cardiff and we should have beaten the Quins,” said Llandovery head coach Euros Evans.
“We should grow in confidence after this because it is never easy going up to north Wales and winning. We got things right up front and Jack Maynard’s goalkicking was crucial.”
Both teams scored five tries and the consolation for the home team was a late score from outside half Billy McBryde which he converted off the touchline to at least earn the Gogs two losing bonus-points as they slumped to a second successive defeat.
The Drovers drew first blood when hooker Dafydd Hughes claimed the first of their three driving line-out tries. Jack Maynard added the extras to his skipper’s try, as he did with the four that followed.
RGC wing Afon Bagshaw turned on the magic to run in a spectacular score for half-way, but good handling soon saw Llandovery regain the lead with a try from left wing Richard Williams. A second Bagshaw try made it 14-12 to the visitors’ at the break and it was nip and tuck from there on in.
Lock Andrew Williams came up with a try from a driving maul for the home side early in the second half, although soon after they lost Bryn Jones to the sin-bin for illegally trying to halt a Llandovery line-out surge. The Drovers quickly made their extra man count and prop Dino Dallavalle was driven over for a try that Maynard converted to regain the lead.
It was nip and tuck to the end and Harri Evans grabbed the bonus-point try for the home side as he crossed for a try that caused a third change of lead after the break. The fourth came from another close range line-out as this time Berian Watkins was driven over.
Gavin Thomas added a fifth try before the Gogs struck again with two minutes to go with a try and conversion from McBryde.
