Sam Jones came back to haunt his old teammates as he crossed for one of two second half tries that put an end to RGC’s four match winning run.
The victory also sent the Ironmen ahead of the Gogs in the table as they moved into fifth place. They are three points behind Ebbw Vale in the final play-off place and have a game in hand.
“It was a great game of rugby to be involved in and we are really happy with the result. We hadn’t won up here for a couple of years,” said a delighted Merthyr skipper, Craig Locke.
“We chose to play into the wind in the first half and weren’t unhappy to change ends only 15-8 behind. It was a difficult old slog to come out on top, but we had a good scrum and our line-out worked well.”
RGC got off to their usual fast start and notched the first of their two first-half tries in the fourth minute. A loose kick into the home half was gathered by full back Sam Earl-Jones and he scythed his way through a splintered defence.
When he got up to the 22, he grubber kicked ahead and the ball bounced up perfectly for skipper Afon Bagshaw to gather and cross. The next try came in the 16th minute and was even better.
Bagshaw and Rhys Tudor combined down the right and a pop pass in the Merthyr 22 allowed the livewire scrum half Efan Jones to finish in style. Dion Jones converted and RGC were 12 points ahead.
Gareth Thompson picked off a penalty for the visitors and then Efan Jones went to the sin-bin for a high-tackle. While he was on the sidelines, Rhys Williams powered over for a try for Merthyr to cut the gap to four points.
A Dion Jones penalty made it 15-8 to the home side at the break and all the talk among the 1,637 crowd in the interval was about whether or not it was a big enough lead to defend in the miserable conditions. In the end it wasn’t quite enough.
“I thought up to the 50th minute we controlled things and dealt with the Merthyr kicking game. Then we went to the corner from a penalty, the throw wasn’t straight, they went up the pitch and the momentum shifted,” said RGC head coach, Ceri Jones.
“It was frustrating as the things we had done right in past weeks – composure, staying in the game and giving ourselves a chance to win – just didn’t happen for us.
“We looked to offload, when we should have looked after the ball at times. As a group we are all disappointed and we now have to react in a positive manner at Newport in our next game.”
Merthyr thought they had scored early in the second half when they worked Sam Jones clear, but the try was ruled out for a forward pass. There was nothing wrong with his next chance, as he took a long pass in the 22 from Thompson and sped over in the left corner.
Thompson’s conversion levelled things up at 15-15 to set-up a thrilling final 10 minutes. On a night when the heavens stayed open it was highly likely a handling error would enter the equation at some stage.
It came shortly after Thompson had edged the Ironmen in front with a penalty. Then a speculative box kick into the home 22 with five minutes to go was caught by Don Jones close to his line.
He slipped and was tackled by the rapidly advancing Thompson as he got to his feet. The impact forced him to let go of the ball and replacement Josh Lewis hacked the loose ball over the line and dived to score before it went dead.
Thompson added the extras and the only consolation for the Gogs was that they picked up a penalty in the 79th minute that Dion Jones landed to earn his side a losing bonus-point.
Scorers: RGC: Tries: A Bagshaw, E Jones; Con: D Jones; Pens: D Jones 2. Merthyr: Tries: R Williams, S Jones, J Lewis; Cons: G Thompson 2; Pens: G Thompson 2
