The Blue & Blacks had to dig deeper than ever before this season to break their Llandovery jinx and record their first win there, 25-20, since 4 October, 2014. The power of the Drovers front five threatened to extend that poor run even further, but a brilliant try from Terri Gee saw the league leaders through.
“When you consider we had two yellow cards and our scrum had so many problems, it was a very good win for us. I was frustrated and relieved at half-time – relieved we weren’t more than two points behind,” said Cardiff head coach Steve Law.
“We could have been much further behind. We struck to our processes and we got through it in the end thanks to a top drawer try from Terri Gee.
“We’ve done well in the first half of the season, but we can still do better. Nobody ever won anything on a first-half performance.”
Having led 8-0 in the opening 10 minutes, the league leaders then found themselves reduced to 13 men and trailing 10-8 at the break. A try by Gareth Thompson and then Gee’s score saw them keep their record intact, while the Drovers at least picked up a losing bonus-points thanks to a late corner try from Aaron Warren.
At the other end of the table, Bridgend climbed off the bottom in time for Christmas after seeing off Ospreylian rivals Swansea 17-3 at the Brewery Field to make it back-to-back wins.
Buoyed by a crucial win at fellow strugglers Ebbw Vale the week before, tries from Dewi Cross and Ryan Hall helped the Ravens to another big win to allow them to leap-frog the Steelmen.
“It was great to back up last week’s performance against Ebbw Vale with another win. We’ve been so close in some of our fixtures, losing three matches in injury time, which the boys have found it difficult to get over,” said head coach Steve Jones.
“We’ve had many injuries to content with this season too and I thought we put in a good display today, playing the conditions really well with some great individual performances.
“Our game management was superb, we kicked really well, pressurized them and played in the right areas.”
Justin Burnell was pleased to see Pontypridd put recent setbacks behind them as they burst Llanelli’s bubble with a 26-15 home win. Llanelli arrived at Sardis Road hoping to extend an impressive winning run to six matches.
“It was good for us to rediscover our spirit and get a well-deserved win. We controlled the territory for much of the game, we kicked well, we got into some good positions, but still couldn’t always finish off with a score,” said Ponty director of rugby, Burnell.
“We did more than enough to win the game and it will set us up for what should be a big match at home to Cardiff at the weekend.”
Llanelli broke the deadlock through Iwan Evans’ penalty but that was their sole contribution to the scoring during the first 40 minutes. Two Diggy Bird penalties were interspersed by a corner flag touchdown from Alex Webber.
Bird added the extras to give Ponty a deserved 13-3 interval lead. Two more Bird penalties extended the lead before Ryan Davies ran in a try for the visitors.
Joel Raikes responded for the home side, with Bird kicking the conversion, but Llanelli kept on fighting back. Flanker Nathan Hart grabbed another try, which was converted by Tadhg McGukin, but it was all too little, too late for the west Walians.
Merthyr halted a three-game losing streak with a 22-18 victory over Carmarthen Quins in awful conditions at The Wern. Rhys Williams, Justin James and Harri Millard all touched down for the champions with Matthew Jarvis and Rhys Jones sharing duties from the tee.
For Carmarthen, defeat saw a six-game winning run come to an end and was a blow to their title hopes – particularly with Cardiff winning at Llandovery to go 15 points clear.
“It’s been a tough few weeks but it was a nice to get a win before Christmas. Carmarthen are a tough side, especially in that weather. They’re forward dominated and we took it as a personal challenge to front up. It is a big win and I’m proud of everyone,” said Merthyr flanker Tom Daley.
Ebbw Vale head coach Greg Woods admitted a degree of panic has set in with his team now bottom of the table, but insists the Steelmen must be realistic about their league position after a 26-11 defeat at Aberavon.
Woods’ men have lost nine of their 11 league games this season and their latest reversal came at the Talbot Athletic Ground as Lloyd Evans and Reuben Morgan-Williams scored Aberavon tries and Aled Thomas kicked 16 points.
“There is panic because we’re down at the bottom, but we have to be realistic that we had four boys making their debuts for us. That tells you exactly where we are as a squad,” said Woods.
“I still felt we were competitive until the last 10 minutes and that’s all I can ask. We lost it through a couple of inaccuracies and discipline which allowed them to go two scores clear.
“We defended pretty well considering the back-line Aberavon had out. It’s disappointing, but I’m really proud of the boys. We put a lot of pride back in the shirt against a very good Aberavon team.
“We always knew Bridgend could potentially beat Swansea. We’re halfway through the season and we’ve got the other half to stay up. We’ll have some games in hand which will be important and we need to get some of our injuries back on the field. I felt it was a committed performance here.”
Ebbw scored the game’s first try when Paul King hacked on a loose ball and won the race to the line. Their only other points came from two Dan Haymond penalties.
