Brynley Toms’ Cardiff Rugby Football teammate Harrison James’ boot and a Dewi Cross Try saw Cardiff come away from The Wern with a hard-fought 22 -16 win over Merthyr.
In difficult conditions for both sides, the first half was played in a rainstorm that couldn’t decide which way it wanted to blow through the ground. The first ten minutes were spent sounding each other out. The first points of the half went to the Ironmen as Gareth Thompson landed a penalty. That was canceled out by James a few minutes later as both side's defenses were on top. Thompson added a second ten minutes later before James added two more penalties to send Cardiff in 9-6 ahead at halftime.
The second half was a little more open in terms of gameplay, but the defenses were still on top. Thompson leveled the scores before James edged the Blue & Blacks back in front a few minutes later. Cardiff’s back row was working hard in both directions, Ellis Thomas charging forward at every opportunity and Nathan Hudd and Alex Mann chopping down any Merthyr player who came anywhere near. The first try came ten minutes into the half. Cross had been looking for work all game and when he shot through a hole in the home defense he was able to link up with Cameron Winnett. When the ball was recovered Merthyr tried to get out of their half, but it squirted free and Cross was able to gather and score. James added the extras.
Merthyr replied in kind when Morgan Sieniawski went over. Thompson was on target with the extras to leave the home side three points down. James though smashed over a long-range penalty to extend the lead and was narrowly wide with a longer-range kick a few minutes later. That left the game in the balance as Merthyr looked to snatch a victory.
A couple of penalties landed them on the Cardiff line but the Blue & Blacks competed as they had been all game and stole the ball and a penalty that was happily kicked into row Z to complete the game.
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