Bedwas RFC 31 Treorchy RFC 22.
Admiral WRU Championship (East) Saturday 11 May 2024.
Match report and photography by Ian Lovell.
Bedwas returned to winning ways but had to dig deep too see off a youthful, hard working Treorchy side who belied their position at the bottom of the table to come close to spoiling the end of season party atmosphere.
On a sunny, warm afternoon Bedwas should have opened the scoring early on but a line out in the visitors twenty-two metre area went awry and the ball was cleared.
Treorchy made Bedwas pay for their inaccuracy almost immediately as full back Callum Elward crossed for an unconverted try. Unfortunately for them they then hit the self-destruct button as club captain Cerith Lloyd was sinbinned for his part in a dust up with Bedwas’ Jo Hole.
Bedwas battled back and came close when Arwel Hughes burst through only to be injured in a tackle and be replaced by prop forward Geraint Evans with Rhys Hutcherson moving to hooker.
Bedwas tried to make the extra man count but were met by solid defence and it wasn’t until the twenty-eighth minute that Bedwas could cross the visitor’s line. Tommy Chapman showed great strength to break through the defence to cross for a try converted by James Dixon.
With no further scores and half time fast approaching Bedwas skipper Dale Rogers was adjudged guilty of a high tackle by referee John Darcy and was shown a yellow card. Treorchy wasted no time in making the extra man count and a try by Nathan Griffiths put them back in the lead, the same player missing the conversion attempt.
Bedwas made changes after the interval, but it was the visitors who extended their lead as winger Mason Brabon converted by Griffiths put Treorchy seventeen points to seven ahead.
Bedwas fought back via a try by Rhys Morgans converted by James Dixon decreased the arrears to three points, the visitors finding themselves a man down with prop forward Chris John sinbinned.
Bedwas continued to battle away and with nine minutes to play the ball found its way to Adam Williams out on the right wing and after seeing off a couple of would-be tacklers Williams crossed in the right-hand corner. Dixon missed the conversion, but Bedwas were ahead in the match for the first time.
Bedwas tails were up and five minutes later captain Dale Rogers forced his way over for the bonus point winning fourth try of the afternoon. James Dixon added the conversion with Treorchy’s Harvey Nash receiving a yellow card for backchat to the referee.
With full time approaching Hamish Anderson intercepted a Treorchy pass to run in from seventy metres and put Bedwas out of sight with less than five minutes to play. Dixon added the extras to bring up his personal contribution for the season to 251 points.
With less than three minutes to play Treorchy remained on the offensive and were encouraged by a yellow card for Hamish Anderson who turned from hero to villain in two minutes.
Treorchy refused to lay down and with the last move of the match Evan Williams crossed for try which was unconverted by replacement Jordan Lloyd, which earned them a deserved bonus point.
Today’s match gallery is at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bedwasrfc/albums