Tata Steel RFC 13 Bedwas RFC 36
WRU Admiral Championship, Saturday 8th January 2022.
Match report and photography by Ian Lovell.
Bedwas got the New Year off to a fine start with a bonus point win against an industrious Tata Steel side. Credit must be given to the home side’s groundsmen who produced a very good playing surface despite the recent heavy rain.
Bedwas scored the first try after two minutes. A Tata player knocked on the kick-off game which was then picked up by a teammate resulting in a Bedwas penalty. Dion McIntosh’s kick to touch saw the line out won and the ball soon found its way back to McIntosh whose deft kick saw Matthew Williams win the race to touch down. McIntosh added the extras.
Tata equalised after Bedwas failed to hold on to the restart and after going through a few phases left winger Willis Wood found the space to cross. Unfortunately, the same player was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt.
Seven minutes later Wood again crossed to put his side ahead but again he was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt.
Bedwas were undeterred and regained the lead after a further two minutes this time McIntosh running through for the try but his conversion attempt drifted wide, but Bedwas nevertheless held a two-point advantage.
After 21 minutes Harry Oliver found himself sin-binned for a deliberate knock on and from the resulting penalty goal by Wood Tata retook the lead.
A McIntosh penalty shot from the halfway line fell just short before Aaron Billingham restored the Bedwas lead as he collected a loose ball and kicked through to win the race to the line to score a try, McIntosh’s kick drifted wide.
Tata’s right winger Morgan Williams then found himself yellow card for a deliberate knock on and Bedwas exploited their loss with Matthew Williams running his second try of the afternoon to guarantee Bedwas a bonus point for four tries. Again, McIntosh was unsuccessful with his conversion.
Bedwas came out for the second half in a determined mood to ‘put the game to bed’ and did just that as Alex Bourne forced his way over to increase the lead. McIntosh was again unsuccessful with his conversion.
With a comfortable margin between the two sides Bedwas rang the changes over the next ten minutes. Harry Oliver and Rhys Morgans made way for Gareth Allen and Owen Jones, respectively. Minutes later Liam Jenkins and Kalum Phillips replaced Ben Drew and Rhys Hutcherson in the front row. Youngster Hamish Anderson (a late replacement for Jack Guy on the replacements bench) then made his debut in place of Aaron Billingham and was immediately in the thick of the action helping to nullify a Tata attack.
Matty Bancroft completed the scoring after 62 minutes as he jinked his was through the home defence before stretching to touch down to the right of the posts. McIntosh finally succeeded finding the target with his conversion attempt.
Bedwas were in no mood to give Tata a glimmer of a comeback as they defended resolutely to deny any scoring opportunities typified by Gareth Allen who sprinted back to deny Tata winger Williams with a great man and ball into touch tackle just as the Tata man must have been thinking a try was on.
Tata continued to try to get a further score, but Bedwas held out to the final whistle.
Next Saturday Bedwas are scheduled to travel to Cardiff Met’s Cyncoed headquarters for a WRU Challenge Shield match, we will endeavour to keep supporters up to date with news of this game later in the week.
Today’s match photos can be found at:https://www.flickr.com/photos/bedwasrfc/albums