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Bargoed hosted local rivals Bedwas in a post Xmas National Championship encounter. The hosts were looking to bounce back after a narrow, late and agonising defeat at Pontypool last time out.
The visitors were unbeaten and in second place, looking to increase the pressure on Pontypool at the top of the league.
Bargoed had two early opportunities to take the lead but a lack of accuracy in attack and a missed penalty saw the game remain scoreless until Dion Macintosh kicked a penalty for Bedwas after 12 minutes.
Bargoed had more possession but a combination of good defence from Bedwas and too many errors from Bargoed resulted in the home side remaining behind on the scoreboard.
Bargoed lost wing Jordan Purcell after 20 minutes and he was replaced by Steff Jones with a backline reshuffle that saw his brother Calum Jones move to the wing from full back.
Bargoed started to get on top from their powerful scrum and effective line-out but they failed to get points when another error close to the line, cost them in the Bedwas 22.
Bargoed missed another penalty but they eventually managed to get a foothold deep in the opposition half, and after a series of scrums Bargoed drove Bedwas backwards for No. 8 Grant Rogers to pick up and score. They missed the conversion so they held a narrow 5-3 lead at half time.
The Bulls tightened things up in the second half and with their kicking game now looking more assured they increased their lead, with the Bedwas scrum creaking and a a penalty try being awarded on 55 minutes to make it 12-3.
Both sides made some changes around the hour mark, and Bargoed looked as though they would start to dominate but Bedwas had other ideas and on 62 minutes they scored a try from replacement Owen Keane after a break from impressive centre Matthew Williams, Macintosh converted and it was 12-10 to Bargoed, and all to play for.
The home side responded well though and used their driving game to good effect and from another scrum, Darren Humphries ran a great hard line to score, Steff Jones converted to increase the lead to 19-10.
Bargoed managed to get the bonus point try from scrum half Huw Rees, after another bout of pressure at scrum time, Jones again converted to make it 26-10 and secure the five pointer.
The Coaching and Management Team were pleased with the result and Director of Rugby Jeremy Rogers said ‘We’re really pleased with the character and resilience displayed by the players against a committed and well organised Bedwas side.
We knew this would be a tough one after the Pontypool game. The Coaches and Players have done a great job in preparing for this game, and although we made a lot of errors in the first half we were far more accurate and purposeful in the second.
The Players all knew what we needed to do and the response we got was first class. To get five points against a quality side like Bedwas who were above us in the league is a great result’
Bargoed face another tough assignment at home next Saturday, against Cardiff Met. Kick off 2.30 pm
