Ebbw Vale snatched an injury-time winning penalty from Bryan Shelbourne to defeat Aberavon 14-13 at Eugene Cross Park and jumped from fourteenth to eleventh spot, while the win by Newbridge over Llandovery sent the Gwent club from fifteenth to fourteenth.
Newbridge ran in six tries to rock Llandovery by 39-19 at the Welfare Ground. Wayne Sims (2), Damian Cooper, Craig Blunsden, Andrew Bevan and Jonathan Williams scored the tries, while the Drovers’ only touchdown came from Arwel Davies.
Ebbw Vale lost Byron Hayward with injury after having kicked a first-half penalty, but Shelbourne landed two and wing Scott Horner gained a try. For Aberavon, No 8 Steffan Edwards scored a try and fly half Jamie Davies added a conversion, penalty and drop goal.
Neath are breathing down Newport’s neck at the top after a 9-2 try-count enabled them to defeat Caerphilly by 57-20 at the Gnoll. Wales under-21 cap Matthew Jones scored three tries and six conversions with other tries coming from Richard Johnston (3), Andrew Howell, Andy Llewellyn and John Macphail. Stuart Thomas kicked ten points for Caerphilly, who had tries from Siope (call me ‘Joe’) Polutele and Justin Thomas.
In Division One’s top clash, Maesteg’s unbeaten record fell at the Dairy Field, Llanharan, when the home side won 24-10 and scored 5-1 on tries. Scrum half Alyn Lake (2), David Owen, David Atkins and Marc Davies were the try-scorers with Davies converting two, while Mark David kicked a Maesteg penalty and converted a try by flanker Justin Jones. Referee Nigel Whitehouse red-carded a player from either side in separate incidents.
