IN wet, grubby conditions the back row come to the fore and Ebbw Vale certainly didn't disappoint in a tense clash at Eugene Cross Park.

Four-try bonus points were never likely to come into play in sodden conditions, and rather than dazzling back moves it was the scavenging, hard-hitting and sheer guts showed by Nio Aiono, John Bowd and John McPhail that impressed.

Vale were made to work extremely hard for the points by a Cardiff side that are sure to be up near the top of the Premiership table come April, but in the end the hosts just about deserved to edge it.

And it was the boot of Simon Hunt that provided all 12 points for the Steelmen, the winger kicking four penalties while he had the wind at his back in the first half.

It is unusual to see Hunt with kicking duties, in fact head coach Pat Horgan was both surprised and impressed when he saw him bisecting the posts in training and subsequently found out that he had been kicker when with Narbonne and Perpignan, but his performance suggests he will be handed the responsibility again.

However, it was the visitors who opened the scoring when outside-half Gareth Davies punished an infringement by Aiono, and though Hunt levelled the scores, Cardiff would have been more than happy to be level after the first quarter, given the breeze they were playing into.

The kickers traded further penalties before Hunt edged Vale into the lead with a 37th-minute penalty that nearly demolished the posts after striking the right stick on its way over.

In filthy conditions Vale can usually count on a catch and drive from their line-out ball but Cardiff cleverly nullified that weapon by not competing for possession and preventing a maul.

And on the stroke of half-time Vale had a huge let-off just as it looked like Tal Selley, man of the match when Cardiff Blues beat the Dragons at Rodney Parade earlier this season, was set to make a decisive play.

The centre burst through a number of tackles and was five yards out with nobody between himself and the line when he mysteriously opted to pass to winger Ryan Howells - the only problem was, he passed it forward.

The mistake was compounded when Hunt boomed over a monster kick from halfway three minutes into injury time.

Replacement Craig Evans chipped away at the lead with another penalty on 50 minutes, and though that proved to be the final score, there were a number of near-misses in the remaining half-hour.

Vale centre Aaron Bramwell, who performed admirably in defence, nearly crossed after charging down a kick and hacking on from the halfway line and it took a terrific last-ditch tackle by Hunt to deny Selley after a cracking break by scrum- half Darren Allinson.

And amid all the action referee Fear caused confusion with his strange, and inconsistent, interpretation of the advantage law, though the Vale faithful were more than happy when he whistled for full time.

Ebbw Vale: A McLaughlan, S Hunt, J Lewis, A Bramwell, J Williams, G McCarthy (B Shelbourne 46), R Lewis (K Owen 73), M Jones (A Lott 66), R Wilkes (M Williams 57), A Lyon, P Sidoli, W Thomas (captain, N Edwards 63), N Aiono, J McPhail, R Williams (J Bowd 5).

Scorers: Penalties - Hunt (4) Cardiff: R Davies (L Evans 79), G Epton, T Selley, R Jones (C Evans HT), R Howells, G Davies, D Allinson (captain), G Gunter (R Cornock 67), R Johnston (G Horrigan 56), S Roberts, B Davies, C Stamatakis (J Down 67), J Groves (D McShane 44), N Hampson (A Whitney 67), M Lewis.

Scorers: Penalties - G Davies (2), C Evans.

Yellow card: Groves (36).