Coming on the back of their draw at Llandovery the previous weekend in was a first home win since 12 October and ended a horror run of five successive defeats at Eugene Cross Park. And with Bridgend not picking up any points in their home defeat to Llandovery it completed a near perfect weekend for the Steelmen.
“We’ve accepted where we are and we know that every week, we just have to get more points than Bridgend. I’m really pleased for the lads, they’ve worked really hard since Christmas,” said Ebbw Vale head coach Greg Woods.
“The new boys we’ve brought into the squad have brought us some real energy and our performances since Christmas have been excellent. We were unfortunate not to beat Merthyr and Llandovery, so to get across the line against a good Pontypridd side is remarkable really.
“We’re on the right road and there’s a good edge about us – we’re hard to beat now. mMassive credit to our defence, although I was surprised Ponty didn’t take any shots at goal.
“That says something about how we’re playing right now. We’ve got local boys playing exceptionally well in the shirt.”
Pontypridd had the bulk of the possession throughout a game that was primarily played in the Ebbw half, but the home side took their chances where it mattered to seal a vital win in their battle against relegation.
Dan Haymond kicked the home side into the lead in the eighth minute and then Mike Powell opened up the Ponty defence to set up winger Aaron Grabham to run home. It took Ponty until the 53rd minute to reply when, with Ebbw’s Dan Hill in the sin bin, winger Morgan Richards dived over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Despite still being down to 14 men, Ebbw redressed the balance with Corey Talbot mauling his way over for his side’s second try of the game. Haymond’s conversion made it a 10 point lead and the home full back added a penalty for good measure to seal the victory.
Bradley Roderick scored two tries for Bridgend, but it wasn’t enough to stop Llandovery leaving the Brewery Field with the full five points as they ran in five of their own in a 35-14 victory. The Drovers had to weather a bit of a storm when they lost Kris Jones to the sin-bin, but they were too strong in the end.
RGC 1404 went one better than the six tries they ran in at Parc Y Scarlets as they notched a magnificent seven tries to complete a bonus-point double over Llanelli with a 43-21 triumph.
Games between the two teams certainly deliver good value to the fans, with their two encounters this season serving up 20 tries and 141 points. More importantly, it provided the Gogs with their first win since 14 December and banished the horrors of their mauling at Pontypridd.
RGC 1404 head coach Saul Nelson had asked his players to “take the emotion of the result against Pontypridd and deliver a performance against Llanelli” and they did just that.
“It was a frustrating few hours watching that game back. We needed to look at ourselves before we looked at anything else because we didn’t manage to build any more than two phases,” he said
Llanelli just failed to pick up a bonus-point at the death, when a fourth try was ruled out for a forward pass, but they had lost the game by half-time. The home side had already picked up their bonus point by then and led 38-0 at one stage.
Tom Hughes, Harri Evans and Billy McBryde combined to make way for the first try, which was eventually scored by Evans. McBryde converted and there were three more scores before the break.
Danny Cross barged his way through the Llanelli defence to set up Afon Baghsaw for the second try and then Rhys Tudor got in on the act. A third conversion made it 21-0 before the bonus-point try was delivered by Hughes.
The home centre got a second before the break and when Cross went over at the start of the second half the lead rose to 38-0. Llanelli had to find something with which to respond and they at least conjured up a couple of tries from No 8 and captain Nathan Hart and another from replacement Ifan Beynon-Thomas.
Ioan Hughes converted all three, cutting the deficit to 24 points at one stage, but it was too little, too late. Rhodri King added a seventh try for the home side.
Aberavon stayed in to the title race as they completed the double over the reigning champions, hitting back to bat Merthyr 19-13. No doubt encouraged by the big win by Carmarthen Quins over the leaders Cardiff the previous night, the Wizards ensured they stayed in contention with the top two.
They are now two points behind the Quins and 12 points back from Cardiff, but with a game in hand. Merthyr led 13-5 with an hour played, but the home side battled back with two tries to swing the momentum in the game.
The champions missed inspirational skipper Craig Locke, who warmed-up but didn’t take part, and got off to a decent enough start despite falling behind to a try by home No 8 Ashton Evans. After hacking the ball upfield he was able to control it and score.
Merthyr hit back with a corner try from Mark Hoskins getting over in the corner before a great drive took flanker Jack Perkins over for a second try to give the Ironmen a 10-5 interval lead.
Matthew Jarvis kicked a penalty to increase the lead early in the second half, but on the hour mark scrum half Rhodri Cole sneaked over between the posts for a try that James Garland converted. That was the start of the Wizards’ revival.
Things started to go wrong for Merthyr. Jarvis missed a penalty and then Rhys Jones badly missed a kick into the corner
With six left minutes left to play the Aberavon pack were joined by a number of their backs and managed to managed to push Lloyd Evans over for the final try, which was converted by Aled Thomas.
