Gwent rugby – around the clubs

Risca put a spell of poor form behind them to return to winning ways with a hard-earned 22-7 win against a determined Brynmawr.

Risca got their first score after nine minutes with Rhys Morgan going over after the pack got the nudge on in the scrum, allowing Rhys Meredith to put Morgan over.

Lloyd Mellens kicked the extras and a penalty from wide out to stretch the lead.

Five minutes later another fine run by Meredith and Danny Williams put Biddiscomb away and put Morgan in for his second try to earn a 15-0 half-time lead.

After the interval Brynmawr put immediate pressure on Risca, but the defence was solid and Biddiscomb got them out of danger with the boot.

Then the game was made safe by Morgan, who fielded a clearance and put his foot on the gas to outpace the Brynmawr defence. Mellens converted.

Brywnmawr got a converted consolation try with four minutes left.

There were excellent performances by Biddiscomb, Meredith, Morgan and Joe Franchi but Danny Williams was named man of the match.

The game between Newport HSOB and Abergavenny began in sunshine and ended with thunder and lightning, an accurate reflection of a match dominated by errors.

Only 10 minutes had been played when Abergavenny’s centre took out an Old Boy player off the ball and was yellow carded.

The Old Boys’ converted a penalty to open the scoring but Abergavenny soon levellled.

The Old Boys drove into Abergavenny territory and from a maul a long pass went out to the wing who off loaded for Hazell to score.

A second soon followed when the ball was moved wide by the backs for Burgess to score, the conversion making it 15-3.

Abergavenny applied pressure but score at half-time the score remained 15-3.

The second half started with Abergavenny converting a penalty to which the Old Boys replied immediately with one of their own.

The Abergavenny forwards then drove to the Old Boys’ line. A scrum in front of the posts collapsed and a penalty try ensued which was converted.

With the score at 18-13 errors became more common and niggle crept into the game.

Much to Abergenny’s frustration, uncontested scrums had to be taken when Old Boys’ prop Rhys Shorney had to leave the field.

A penalty for offside saw Will Edwards convert to take the score to 21-13 before Abergavenny earned a bonus point with a late penalty.

DIVISION FOUR EAST

Against all the odds home team Cwmbran staged a remarkable comeback to claim the scalp of leaders Cilfynydd.

The visitors came with a large contingent of supporters and were stunned to find themselves 7-0 down within minutes.

Several drives instigated by Jamie Edwards, Connor Bartlett and Shane James resulted in a try for Micky Witts, which Mike Davies converted.

For the remainder of the half the Crows were on the back foot, especially in the scrum.

An injury to inside half Dan Powell didn’t aid Cwmbran’s cause as Cilfynydd ran in a brace of tries and kicked a penalty before the interval.

Discipline faltered second half for both teams as four yellow cards were administered - both clubs picking up a pair.

Cilfynydd’s third try seemed to have killed the game off to lead 20-7 and a needless red to a Cwmbran player made their chance of a win near impossible.

A piece of midfield magic by Kyle Scrivens, backed up by the three quarters, enabled him to score a converted try near the posts.

With the floodlights now on, the sky blackening, hail and thunder and lightning all around the Crows threw everything at the visitors in the dying minutes.

A great throw to a lineout by Blake saw Lang set up the forward drive which paved the way for a Mike Davies try.

After a Cilfynydd player received his red card for foul play Davies converted brilliantly to win the game 21-20.

The fireworks display started early for Ynysddu as the players put together a sparkling and explosive display at Machen to come away with a fine 64-10 win.

This was a surprise especially when Machen took a lead in the first minute through a try by their scrum half following a sloppy lineout by Ynysddu .

The Ds however seemed to be spurred on by this early lapse and showed that they are an all round side when they started running the ball at Machen from all areas for the field.

Forwards and backs took the ball into tackle areas and recycled it at speed resulting in full back Ryan Evans scoring the first of his hat trick of tries to open their account.

Matthew Browne converted and later added a penalty to increase the lead to 10-5.

Dean Acreman scored in the corner following his return to the wing after starting in the centre and Ynysddu seemed to be cruising when Evans scored the second of his hat trick to take the score to 22-5.

However, Machen applied pressure in the last minute of the half to score their second try to make the half time score 22-10.

Ynysddu started the second half applying all the pressure with Machen’s only form of attack being the relieving kick and chase and some handling errors by the Ynysddu players.

Acreman and Evans continued their scoring exploits ably supported by the boot of Brown before the forwards decided that they should get on the score sheet.

Sub Jod Davies was securing lineout ball and allowing the forwards to drive on, and from one of these rushes he scored the first of his brace thanks to a dummy.

The tries came flooding in the closing stages with Jod Davies, Kevin Chamberlain and Ian Prosser running in tries almost without a hand being put upon them.

Browne the boot had a productive day with nine out of ten kicks sailing through the uprights.

Joe Watts at hooker inspired and encouraged throughout the game and gave another flawless display but it was outside half Jeremy Roberts that took the supporters’ man of the match award.

DIVISION FIVE EAST

Llanhilleth traveled to Nantyglo to face the undefeated league leaders.

From the off both packs tore into one another and the backs were seeing very little of the ball, with the Llan half-backs Fred Evans and Kyle Sterry keeping play tight.

Gradually the game opened out and from a Llan attack centre Dom Bevan-Jones opened the scoring with penalty when Nantyglo went offside near their posts.

That spurred Nantyglo into action and they scored two tries, the first from a kick through and the second following good interplay between their backs.

At this point hooker and captain Scott Pitt roused his pack and they put Nantyglo under pressure in the scrum.

Pitt and props Mark White and Darren Crimmins powered their way to a penalty try, meaning it was 10-10 at the break.

The second half opened in a blizzard but both teams adapted and some good play ensued. New player coach Jason Hill at centre was bringing the best out of the Llan backs with wings James Foreshew and Alex Davies causing problems.

Indeed, from a kick and chase Davies went over for a seven-pointer to put Llan in the box seat.

Llan were now on top, forwards Chris Finch, Shane Reece, Richard Phelps, Danny Brimble and Paul Annetts causing problems with some good runs.

Nantyglo held out, however, and were not prepared to give up their unbeaten record.

In the dying minutes Llan had two players sin binned and with virtually the last move Nantyglo took advantage and scored at the posts for the game to end 17-17.

Trinant suffered last-gasp heartbreak when they entertained Caerleon for the first time at senior level.

Trinant started well and had an opportunity to score only for the pass to be intercepted and result in a Caerleon seven-pointer from 70 metres.

Three penalties by Jamie Lyons to one by Caerleon meant the visitors led 13-9.

Trinant were playing the better rugby with fly-half Lyons and centres Lee Pidgeon and Ryan Jones causing the visitors problems.

And it was 16-16 at half-time when a 50-metre break by Jones saw flanker Phil Pritchard in support to finish the move off.

Trinant continued to press a good run by full back Morgan saw him chip the ball over his opposite number only for the bounce to beat him.

Trinant lost captain and scrum-half Mike Haines, who was playing his first game of the season having been out with a broken foot for 10 weeks.

Caerleon were back in front on the hour when a long-range drop goal by their fly-half made it 19-16.

Trinant, however, continued to press and they got their noses in front 21-19 with 15 minutes remaining, hooker Lee Jones going over.

The home team lost big second row Mathew Payne and prop Jason Jones which allowed Caerleon for the first time to gain an advantage at the scrum.

To this point the Troggs were shading the game and they thought that luck was on their side when Caerleon missed an easy penalty.

But it was not to be as the visitors kicked a winning drop goal before the final whistle.

Trinant’s man of the match went to young prop Jones, who was a centre in his youth and following four year break from the game this 22-year-old will only improve.

Newport Saracens came down to earth with a bump and, despite outscoring Rogerstone three tries to one, came unstuck in a 25-19 home defeat.

The Sarries led 19-9 just after half-time but their play was strewn with errors and they conceded far too many penalties, several for back chat and ill discipline, for which Rogerstone made them pay heavily.

Despite the front row of Shaun Griffiths, Delme Fisher and John Turberville dominating the scrums, Rogerstone's tactics were much better and good use of the boot made sure the visitors enjoyed the majority of territory.

Sarries scored first half tries from second row Greg Simmonds and scrum half Tom James with one from centre Jamie Westacott after the break, centre Rhys Hendley added two conversions.

However, Rogerstone fly half James Didcot was the match winner, kicking three penalties in each half and adding the extra points to their try from Ryan Oliver.

Sarries did get a losing bonus point but they must learn lessons from this setback and bring greater urgency and tactical awareness to their game.

Across the team they lacked urgency and direction and to their credit the visitors took their opportunities and cashed in.

In a lacklustre display Sarries’ best performers were the front row along with hard tackling flanker Josh Davidson, full back Mathew Riley and centre Westacott on debut.

It was good to see flanker and captain Pat James back from injury when he came on in the second half.

On Friday evening Sarries have a home friendly under lights against Newport Police.

DIVISION SIX EAST

Forgeside suffered a 25-16 defeat when they travelled to table-topping Blaina United.

Blaina went 15-3 up before Forgeside finally woke up and started taking the game to their hosts.

Steven Howard scored two tries to make it 15-13 going into half time but Forgeside will be disappointed with how the second half went.

Their only points were from a Morgan Parry penalty while Blaina United scored another two tries to secure victory.