A RIP-ROARING Gwent derby saw Bedwas take the spoils but Cross Keys relatively happy to leave the Bridge Field with two points after a classic encounter.

The visitors outscored the hosts by five tries to four in a highly entertaining thriller that went right to the wire.

Keys had looked to chalk up their fourth win on the bounce but it was the home side who managed to build on their excellent 42-37 triumph over Llanelli last week with another bonus point victory.

The Pandy Park side got off to a nightmare start when Bedwas wing Rory Budina intercepted deep in his own half before racing to score under the posts, No 10 Richard Powell converting to give his side a 7-0 lead within two minutes.

Keys hit back soon after when they showed great patience to go through the phases before their outstanding openside flanker Scott Matthews crashed over for an unconverted try from short range.

The visitors took the lead in the 16th minute when they were awarded a penalty try after Bedwas collapsed a maul.

Their prop Matt Pettit was yellow carded while outside half Ethan Davies stretched Keys’ lead to 12-7.

A bad tempered opening quarter saw the visitors also down to 14 men when tighthead Anthony ‘Vinny’ Lott was sin binned following an off-the-ball tussle.

The hosts regained the lead in the 28th minute with a wonderful try when Budina was given room out wide before passing to scrum half Luke Crane who crossed under the posts, Powell again adding the extras.

Their advantage was short lived however in a highly entertaining first half when Keys went on the attack with powerful wing Polu Uhi barging over.

Again a fairly simple conversion was missed by Davies as the sides went into the interval with Keys 17-14 up and the more dominant side with their impressive forwards in command and winning the breakdown battle.

The topsy-turvy nature of the game continued in the second half as Bedwas scored a sparkling converted try through wing Lewis Hudd before Keys got one back through his opposite number as the visitors took a 24-21 lead in the 50th minute with the four-try bonus point in the bag.

Not to be outdone, Bedwas got their four-try bonus point when hooker Richard Wilkes crashed over for a converted try a short time later.

With Bedwas now bossing the game, Powell put them 31-24 ahead after 61 minutes with the first penalty of the game.

And he effectively killed the game off with his second with just two minutes to go as Bedwas looked the most comfortable of the two sides and went about closing the game down.

But there was still time for replacement prop Richard Cornock to score Keys’ fifth try, converted by Davies, to give the home fans a real scare after the hosts exploited a huge overlap.

Powell though added another penalty right at the death after Keys were penalised right from the re-start for playing the ball from an offside position after it had been knocked on.

The game could have gone either way, but Bedwas did deserve the win, finishing the stronger side.

Bedwas: Harley Thomson, Lewis Hudd, Mike Callow, Arron Pinches, Rory Budina, Richard Powell, Luke Crane, Dan Preece (Brynley Toms 55), Richard Wilkes, Matthew Pettit, Joe Davies (Deri Mattravers 50), Josh Walker, Alwyn Lee (James Richards 50), James Sawyer, Phill Rees (capt).

Replacements: Alun Rees, James Carmichael, Joe Mills, Jack Maynard, Stuart Thomas.

Bedwas scorers: Tries – Rory Budina (2) Luke Crane (28), Lewis Hudd (46), Richard Wilkes (55), Conversions – Richard Powell (2) (28) (46) (55), Penalties – Powell (61) (78) (80).

Cross Keys: James Leadbeater, Polu Uhi (Elliot Jones 72), Leon Andrews (capt), Phil Williams, Nathan Trowbridge, Ethan Davies, Ryan James (Rhys Dyer 67), Luke Garrett (Richard Cornock 62), Darren Hughes, Anthony Lott (Leon Brown 61), Danny Hodge (Simon Williams 62), Tom Lampard, Josh Skinner (Leon Brown 24-31, Reuben Tucker 67), Scott Matthews, Adam Powell.

Replacements: Jon Howard, Nathan Williams.

Cross Keys scorers: Tries – Scott Matthews (9), Penalty try (16), Polu Uhi (32), Nathan Trowbridge (50), Richard Cornock (79), Conversions – Ethan Davies (16) (50) (79).

Referee: Greg Morgan (WRU)