EBBW Vale scraped their way into the last eight of the WRU National Cup after a well below par performance against Championship side Beddau, writes Geoff Champion.

The Steelmen, who looked off colour throughout the match as Beddau dragged them into a real dog fight, manged to score just one try – a typical forwards surge near the home line in the 17th minute ending with the irrepressible flanker Ronny Kynes snapping up the touchdown. Outside half Dai Langdon kicked the conversion.

Rugged Beddau’s only points came from a 55th minute penalty goal by outside half Hywel Chatham.

Vale were guilty on several occasions of squandering scoring chances by players opting not to pass when feeding supporting players would have led to a greater haul of points.

The Steelmen’s back row of Kynes, Rhys Clarke and Jack Goodey worked hard while Chris Levesley proved to be a lively wing but, in general, this is a game they will want to quickly forget.

Defending Principality Premiership champions Ebbw Vale prepared carefully for what they expected to be a tough WRU National Cup second round tie against Championship side Beddau at Mount Pleasant Park. The Steelmen hammered their hosts 71-13 at home in the first round of the Swalec Cup in January 2014 but complacency is not a word in their vocabulary these days and they certainly wanted to avoid being on the wrong end of a cup upset.

Beddau, third in their league after five consecutive wins, were itching to measure their progress against a club whose success they would love to emulate in the not-too-distant future.

It took the visitors seven minutes of play before they were able to manage a foothold in Beddau territory – Dai Jones linking up with Kynes in a smart blindside move from a scrum but Chris Levesley was bundled into touch by the well-organised home defence.

Beddau suffered a blow after 13 minutes when they lost hooker Jack Dando with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. He was replaced by Matthew Howells.

Vale started to show their strength up front a familiar catch and drive move led to a 17th minute try by Kynes which Langdon converted. A few minutes later Beddau had a greattry opportunity but flanker Jason Goodwin could not hold a pass on the Vale 22 metres line when he had a clear run to the line.

Vale remained in the ascendency but could not add to their 7-0 before the interval.Beddau managed to get on the scoreboard in he second half through Chatham’s penalty but they could not stop their more experienced opponents from chalking up a narrow win.

Beddau:C Wheeler; J Casella, G Davies, A Ashford , C Baker (C Lewis 71); H Chatham, D Francis; A Court (O Cotton 70), J Dando (M Howells 13), B Stephens (C Jones 68), L Evans, capt.,K Parker, L Rogers, J Goodwin (M Jones 75) and R Jones.

Beddau: Pen - H Chatham Ebbw Vale: D Haymond; C Levesley, N Preece, D Franchi, J Lewis; D Langdon, D Jones; R Jones, J Bowen, G Robinson, J Davies, A Sweet, R Clarke, R Kynes, capt., and J Goodey.

Ebbw Vale : Try ; R. Kynes, con : D Langdon Referee: Mr Robert Price (Andover, Hampshire) Ebbw Vale Man of Match: Jack Goodey