It was the Drover’s seventh league win in eight games, but they looked a shadow of the side that had lost just the one Premiership game. A traffic jam on the M4 meant Bridgend rushing to make a late 8pm kick-off and within a minute they had conceded a penalty to outside half Jack Maynard.
To their credit, the visitors soon found their legs in attack and opposite number Luke Price kicked two penalties for the lead. That soon became 13-3 when consistent pressure on the home line ended with scrum half Chris Williams slipping through for a try, converted by Price.
The Drovers were rattled and made poor choices when in possession as well as conceding a number of penalties to a hard tackling defence. Llandovery could not find any rhythm in their play and even a series of close-range drives failed to bring any points to leave them trailing by 10 points at the break.
A fine run by full back Edd Howley all but made a try for the confident Ravens before a second Maynard penalty made it 13-6 after 50 minutes. A yellow card for fly half Price checked Bridgend momentum and the home forwards drove a line out to work in replacement hooker Craig Thomas, centre Kristian Jones converting.
The Drovers left it until the 75th minute to go ahead when more line out pressure eventually saw wing Aaron Warren diving over wide out. It was cruel luck for the brave Ravens but when they then lost replacement Nathan Edwards to the sin bin, a Jones penalty and a try for lock Joe Powell made the game safe for off colour Llandovery.
Scorers: Llandovery: Tries: C Thomas, Aaron Warren, J Powell; Cons: K Jones 2; Pens: J Maynard 2, K Jones; Bridgend: Try: C Williams; Con: L Price; Pens: L Price 2
Pontypridd’s plight continued as they lost their third game in a row as they suffered another heavy defeat to remain stuck in the bottom three after a 33-16 loss at Newport.
Despite taking the lead with an early penalty from Matt Bancroft, they only kept their noses in front for a short period. Once Newport got motoring, they took control and took their chances. Dan Hill barged his way over for the opening try and Matt O’Brien added the extras.
O’Brien ended up with 13 points on the night and moved into third place on the club’s all-time points list as he overtook Shane Howarth to reach 1,036. Only Dan Griffiths (1151) and Paul Turner (1145) are now ahead of him.
Ponty were guilty of not making the most of their chances, although a try from scrum half Joel Raikes, which Bancroft improved, enabled them to level at 10-10 after O’Brien had added a penalty.
It was 17-13 to the home side at the break after Wakes U20 wing Oli Andrew ran in the first of his two tries. O’Brien added the extras and then Bancroft rounded off the first half scoring with a penalty.
Bancroft’s third penalty of the game cut the gap to a single point, but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Andrew skipped away for his second try and then Ben Roach brought up the bonus point with a fourth for the Black & Ambers.
Two more O’Brien penalties sealed the deal and after losing their first four matches, Newport have risen to sixth in the table.
Scorers: Newport: Tries: O Andrew 2, D Hill, B Roach; Cons: M O’Brien 2; Pens: M O’Brien 3; Pontypridd: Try: J Raikes; Con: M Bancroft; Pens: M Bancroft 3
