Bargoed RFC

Bargoed travelled to face Beddau in the National Championship looking to continue their positive start to the season, against old foes from the Mid District, who have caused the Bulls plenty of problems in the past.

Bargoed started well after a great break from Steff Thomas. They were awarded a penalty which they kicked to the corner and drove the line-out for hooker Rhys Buckley to steer over and score with 5 minutes gone.

Beddau bounced back though, and put Bargoed under huge pressure, but excellent work and well organised defence kept the line intact.

Bargoed lost Ronny Kynes with an injury after 19 minutes and he was replaced by Callum Davies.

The visitors extended their lead after 25 minutes when Steff Jones broke through and was tackled just short of the line, and a great clean out by the forwards enabled scrum half James Leadbeater to snipe over from short range for a try. Steff Jones converted and Bargoed were 12-0 up.

Bargoed were now on top at scrum time and when the hosts conceded a scrum penalty, Steff Jones took advantage and landed a fine 40 metre kick up the slope to lead 15-0.

Although Bargoed were dominating both territory and possession, Beddau defended superbly until the 34th minute when a well worked move saw Barney Nightingale crash over on his return to Bargoed colours. Jones converted to take the score to 22-0.

Bargoed were back under the cosh with pressure from Beddau from the kick off, and a couple of minutes later they tried to attack from deep and conceded an interception try by centre Adam Ashford, which was converted by Hywel Chatham to make it 22-7.

Bargoed weren’t finished though and right on the half time whistle, they got the perfect riposte when Rhys Humphries sliced through for Bargoed’s bonus try, with Jones converting to make it 29-7 at the break.

Bargoed got a great start to the second half with Rhys Humphries getting his second try to make it 34-7 after 44 minutes and they increased their lead shortly after to 41-7 when Ali Gardner-Key got a rare try converted by Steff Jones.

Beddau would not lie down though, and came back strongly with a series of attacks but good scramble defence saw Bargoed hold them out on a couple of occasions.

Bargoed made a number of changes in and around 60 minutes with Wade Langley, Rhys Morgan, Huw Rees and Jordan Purcell joining the fray.

Indeed it was Purcell who got the next score when he profited from some good work by the inside backs to put him in space and score after 75 minutes.

The final score went to Rhys Humphries who was on the end of a flowing attack to get his hat trick, Callum Jones converted and the final score was 53-7 to the visitors.

This was Bargoed’s most clinical performance of the season against a well organised and committed home side. The pack were once again in great form with another strong set piece performance, and the backs were accurate in their attack and kicking game.

The man in the middle was also worth a mention as the game was superbly managed by Referee Nigel Whitehouse whose decision making, player empathy and communication were spot on throughout.

Bargoed move up to second place, three points behind Pontypool, with Bedwas’ game postponed. Next week The Bulls are home to Championship newcomers Ystalyfera, who had a good win on Saturday against Glamorgan Wanderers and will be looking to build on that. They can be assured that will get a warm welcome on and off the field from Bargoed RFC.