Brynley Toms and his Bedwas teammates overcame three sin binning’s to emerge deserved victors at local rivals Newport 20 - 12.
Newport took the game to visitors early on but Bedwas defended stoutly and scoring chances were at a premium.
However after a spell of Bedwas pressure James Benjamin took a quick tap penalty and put back row colleague George Lee in for a try, Powell added the conversion.
Fly half Arwel Robson reduced arrears half way through the half but Bedwas dominance especially in the tight went unrewarded. A series of scrums close to the home line led to both front rows being warned to bind correctly by the referee, and despite Bedwas seemingly in control of this part of the game prop forward Dan Preece was adjudged to have collapsed a scrum and given a yellow card.
Undeterred Bedwas added a Richard Powell penalty goal whilst down to fourteen men with the hosts unable to take advantage of their numerical supremacy.
Just before the interval Bedwas were reduced to thirteen men as captain Richard Powell was given an enforced ten minute rest for an alleged swinging arm, Arwel Robson adding the penalty to see the halftime score at Newport RFC 6 Bedwas RFC 10.
With Preece restored to the front five Bedwas continued their strong forward game but were unable to add any further points. Two Arwel Robson penalties on 52 and 57 minutes put the home side ahead for the first time in the game. Bedwas responded by bringing on fresh legs and earned a penalty chance which Powell devoured to reclaim the lead by a solitary point.
Further reward finally game after good work by Connor Edwards and Pat Lewis claimed valuable metres before big forward Robson Blake bulldozed through the Newport defence for at try which was richly deserved for his ball carrying efforts all afternoon. Powell added the extras to put Bedwas eight points ahead with seven minutes to play.
Rhys Verley became the third yellow player to be given a referee enforced break after being harshly adjudged of taking out a Newport player without the ball as stood his ground at a kick through.
With five minutes to play Bedwas kept cool heads and more importantly kept possession to prevent the home side gaining any territory as they held on for an important victory.
