Table topping ‘Bwl were 43-7 winners over bottom of the table Blackwood, with Dale Stuckey crossing for two tries, while Penallta ran out 52-20 victors’ against fourth place Brynmawr in another impressive display on the artificial surface at Ystrad Rhondda.
In what the club had deemed a ‘must-win’ game on another ‘Super Saturday’ on their plastic pitch, they had bagged the try bonus point by half-time with four tries as they raced into a 27-10 lead. More tries flowed as they piled on another 25 points after the break.
There are only two points between the two teams, who have both won 13 of their 16 games to date. Bedlinog kept up their chase of the top two with a hard fought 24-20 win against Nelson in another game played on the 3G surface at Ystrad Mynach.
They are 20 points behind Ynysywbl, but have five games to make up on them and host them on 20 February in one of the games of the season in the division. They travel to play second placed Penallta on 5 March.
Rhiwbina claimed the Cardiff bragging rights by beating capital city rivals Cardiff Quins 36-0 in SSE SWALEC Division 1 East Central. The home side ran in six tries without reply as they stayed in touch at the top by consolidating their fourth place.
Tries from Lloyd Summers and Dafydd Williams, one of which Mike McCarthy converted, gave the Squirrels an early 12 point lead and they built that into a 19 point interval advantage thanks to a third try from Josh Trewartha which McCarthy again improved.
Trewartha brought up the bonus point with his second try and then went on to complete his hat-trick, and pick up the man o the match award. A sixth try was added by Nick Howell to complete the rout.
Treorchy moved away from the relegation zone with a hard-fought 15-14 triumph at Llanishen, scoring all their points in the second half. Ystrad Rhondda scored five tries in their 34-7 home win over Llantwit Fardre, Bleddyn Davies bagging the bonus point fourth try.
In SSE SWALEC Division 1 West, Dunvant retained their four point advantage over Felinfoel at the top of the table following a tight, 21-19 win at Gorseinon. The hosts missed a conversion late on which would have tied the game.
Mark Loughlin and Adam Williams-Parry scored the tries Dunvant, while Felinfoel were forced to come back from 12-10 down at Llangennech to win 17-15 in the end and maintain their chase for the title. Better goalkicking from the home side could well have seen a different result.
Third place Waunarlwydd thumped Loughor 46-15 in a bonus point win, while Whitland won the Pembrokeshire battle as they went to Tenby United and came away with a 21-6 win that lifted them 20 points clear of the bottom placed side.
Runaway SSE SWALEC Division 1 West Central leaders Skewen edged sixth place Maesteg in a tight game that keeps them 14 points clear at the top. Tries from James Ball, Mark Harvey and Richard Davies secured the 23-15 victory.
Bonymaen narrowly beat Trebanos in a thrilling affair between fourth and fifth. In an end to end game, a brace from Jack Glover, as well as tries from Colin Jones and Kyle Sorter, secured the win for the hosts. Captain Sean Hopkins replied for Trebanos with two tries of his own, but it wasn’t enough as Bonymaen leap-frogged their visitors in the table.
Three first-half penalties with the wind at his back allowed Llew Williams to kick COBRA into a 9-0 interval lead at home against Bethesda in SSE SWALEC Division 1 North. The question was, would it be enough of a lead?
In the end, as the conditions at Cae Cobra deteriorated even more, it proved to be so. Stubborn home defence kept the visitors at bay and the only points they could muster came when the home side were reduced to 14 men with Rhodri Evans in the sin bin.
The try was duly converted and that created a tense closing few minutes. COBRA hung on to make it six wins this season in the top flight, while Bethesda’s three match winning run in the league came to an end.
It was fourth against fifth at Caernarfon and the points went to the visitors, Abergele, who were able to draw level with their hosts on 40 points in the table. Their 13-10 victory was launched in the first-half by a try against the run of play from Jordan Grimshaw try which Owain Davies converted to give Gele a 7-0 interval lead.
The visitors had to play up the hill in the second half and Owain Davies swapped penalties with his opposite number to make it 10-3 and then added a third successful goal kick to make it 13-3. But a penalty try when Gele were down to 14 men, with prop Simon Johnston in the sin bin cut the gap to three points and led to a nervy ending.
Tries from Carwyn Roberts and Ifan Jones, the first converted by Delwyn Jones, gave league leaders Nant Conwy a 12-0 interval lead at Llandudno and there were two more in the second half from the dominant visitors from Gethin Jones and Aeron Jones. There was some consolation at the death for the home side when Elliot Crowe crossed for a highly disputed score.
The bonus point win allowed Nant to extend their lead at the top to 14 points with Bala failing to pick up a try bonus in their 17-14 victory at the home of bottom of the table Llangefni.
