Brynley Toms and his Bedwas teammates got back to winning ways as Steffan Jones bagged 21 points against his home town club and perhaps unusually was up against his younger brother Calum in the Bargoed fly half jersey.
It was an overcast Bargoed park at high noon as proceedings got underway with both sides taking time to settle in the end Bedwas would come away with a 26 – 20 win.
Bedwas took to the lead in the ninth minute as a kick through towards the Bargoed goal bounced back into the hands of Steffan Jones who gleefully dived over the line. Jones got back up to add the conversion.
Bargoed tried to hit back but will be disappointed with the number of unforced errors as they kicked the ball out on the full on several occasions to gift Bedwas possession.
Such kicking lead to Bedwas’ second try as a clearing box kick found the ball loose in midfield and with home defense at sixes and sevens James Richards hacked the ball on and won the foot race to dive in under the posts. Steffan Jones notched the simple conversion.
Bargoed responded with sustained possession and a well-executed catch and drive saw prop Scott Evans driven over. Matthew Lewis adding the extras.
There was still time for Steffan Jones to add a penalty goal to extend Bedwas’ advantage to 17 points to 7 going into the interval.
A determined Bargoed came back at Bedwas at the start of the second half and a string of penalties bought them closer, culminating in a sin binning of Mike Callow for an alleged high tackle. Bargoed were quick to exploit the extra man and a quick tap penalty put Blacker into a gap to claim a try. Matthew Lewis’ conversion closed the gap to three points. Bedwas showed some resilience and with Jones notching two penalty goals the nerves of the Bedwas faithful were eased.
Bedwas made a number of changes to replace tired legs as the home side continued to exert pressure but two further Matthew Lewis penalties saw only three points between the sides going into the latter stages of the game.
Bedwas looked to kill off the game but couldn’t force a way through the home defense and in the end it was a last-kick-of-the-day penalty from Steffan Jones which ensured the win for a relieved Bedwas.
