The home side were second best in most facets of play for most of the game and now find themselves firmly entrenched in the dogfight at the bottom of the table where coaching staff will be looking anxiously over their shoulders as relegation to the Championship becomes a serious concern.
Rhys Jones pulled the strings expertly at fly half for Ebbw Vale – whether it was kicking for territory or putting support players in space with sublime passing, or taking points on offer, the former Wales Sevens representative hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon.
Jones was instrumental in the Gwent side’s triumph as he finished the game with a personal haul of 16 points.
His two early strikes put his side on the front foot and even though Bedwas replied with a length of the field try scored by Tom Hoppe, Jones’ creativity down the blindside gifted Carl Meyer his first try of the afternoon next to the corner flag. Jones’ superb conversion from the touchline put daylight between the two sides and from there, Bedwas were always playing catch-up.
Two minutes later Lloyd Evans, who had a quietly effective game on the flank, finished off a swift move and with Jones adding the extras and a penalty on the stroke of halftime, Bedwas faced an uphill task to get back into the game, trailing 5-23 at the break.
Two quick-fire tries by George Gasson and Dan Crimmins gave Bedwas hope of staging a comeback but that was snuffed out when Meyer scored his second try.
Things got worse for Bedwas when they lost two front rowers to the sinbin and with the Steelmen’s pack in no mood for charity, they tormented what was left of Bedwas’ scrum to secure a bonus point with a late penalty try.
In the other game played on Boxing Day in the Premiership, two tries from hooker Ieuan Davies in the space of five minutes in the first-half at the Talbot Athletic Ground paved the way for Aberavon to beat arch rivals Neath 36-17. The Wizards scored six tries in the end, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic.
Neath arrived with players on permit from 13 different clubs such are their injury and off-field problems at the moment and found themselves trailing 17-0 at the break after conceding those two tries to Davies and a third to back row man Andrew Waite.
The home lead rose to 29 points thanks to further tries from young Ospreys duo Frankie Jones and Iwan Temblett, but Neath mounted a spirited fightback to salvage some credibility. Lock Scott Davies, skipper and centre Aaron Bramwell and wing James Roberts all scored tries to cut the gap to 12 points before Jacob Blackmore scored the sixth and final home try.
