Brynley Toms and his Bedwas teammates dug deep to hold off a late Bridgend fight back to claim a huge win 31 – 24 which will hopefully go a long way to staving off relegation at the end of the season.
Bedwas got off to a flying start, a break down the middle found James Richards who cantered into the corner for a Try with only two minutes elapsed. Joseph Scrivens added the extras against his former club.
Bridgend responded immediately when Bedwas were penalized for a high tackle full back Owen Howe slotted the resulting Penalty to reduce the arrears. Howe had a second opportunity ten minutes later after Bedwas were penalized at a ruck but this time his kick sailed wide.
Bedwas regained their mojo and a break down the left by Jordan Rees saw him break through a tackle and cross out wide; Scrivens added the conversion with a well taken kick.
Again Bridgend countered this time with a try on 29 minutes scrum half Chris Williams allowed space and time to cross under the sticks after the Bedwas defense momentarily switched off. Howe easily added the extras.
Scrivens’ 33rd minute penalty increased the Bedwas lead and was the last scoring of an entertaining half.
With the breeze in their faces in the second half Bedwas took the game to their opponents, the pressure turned into points as Scrivens notched a further three penalty goals on 49, 52 and 59 minutes to increase the Bedwas lead.
Just past the hour a break down the left by Jordan Rees saw him beat his marker to set up the supporting Tom Benjamin who sprinted in from 25 meters to cross by the corner flag. Scrivens’ accuracy deserted him on this occasion but his previous precision was enough to see him awarded Bedwas man of the match.
The 66th minute sin binning of captain Nathan Hudd for a no arms tackle on Bridgend’s outside half Jamie Murphy proved decisive as immediately the visitors sensed it could be their day. Replacement center Stuart Floyd-Ellis wasted no time in taking advantage of an unorganized Bedwas defence as he crossed for under the posts. Cai Evans quickly added the conversion with a drop kick.
Bridgend continued to press and with Bedwas still down to fourteen men took their chance via a try from outside half Jamie Murphy converted by Howe to reduce the arrears to only 7 points and vitally for the Bridgend cause as losing bonus point would be the least they would take home.
Bedwas had to dig in and with the return of Hudd from his 10 minute sabbatical some normality returned to the defense which to their credit was resolute as Bridgend threw the proverbial kitchen sink at them.
The final whistle eventually came and everyone of the Bedwas persuasion could finally breathe again after a nerve jangling last ten minutes.
