The Steelmen, Premiership champions in 2016, weren’t the only side to turn the form book upside down on a day of shocks. Cross Keys pipped table-topping Bedwas 25-22 to ensure the top two teams both lost the week before they clash at the Bridge Field.
Ebbw Vale scored three tries through centre Srdan Majkic, scrum half Carl Lewis and flanker Cameron Regan. It was Regan who powered over from close range after a series of powerful surges from the visiting forwards who set the ball rolling.
Lewis crossed for the visitors’ second try, touching down after a counter attack which began from turnover ball, with Lewis sprinting over from 40 metres out. Full back Llywarch Ap Myrddin kept the home side in the game with a well worked try just before the break, but Ebbw were still leading 17-8 at half-time.
The Steelmen went up through the gears in the second half with a superb try from Majkic, who made a searing break from the half-way line. Cardiff outside half Ben Thomas responded with a nice try after leaving three visiting defenders for dead.
Thomas kept the scoreboard ticking over for the home side, but Ebbw repelled a huge amount of home pressure to hold out for a major victory.
Cross Keys beat high flying Bedwas 25-22 with wings Matthew Powell and Joe Goodchild crossing and hooker Rob Jones adding a third try. In a scrappy first half it was Bedwas who grabbed the first try through hooker Dale Rogers, who drove over from short range.
Former Dragons outside half Steffan Jones added the conversion and at the break unbeaten Bedwas were 7-3 ahead. Cross Keys picked up the pace in the second half with Goodchild finishing off a cracking back line move in the corner after a series of dominant scrums from the home side.
With Keys’ forwards gaining the upper hand, Jones touched down from the back of a driving lineout to notch for the home side’s second try. Powell then crossed for their final try after a scintillating break down the touch line to put the home side clear of their hosts, with Joe Prosser converting.
However, Bedwas showed the sort of spirit that got them to the top of the league in the first place with wing Mikey Callow crossing for a try after a powerful break from the 22. Utility back Lewis Evans then scored another for the visitors, but Cross Keys managed to hold out.
Pontypridd recorded a comfortable 29-10, bonus-point victory away against struggling Bargoed. The visitors scored tries through full back Lloyd Rowlands, flanker Rhys Shellard, former Wales international outside half Ceri Sweeney and winger Alex Webber, while Bargoed could only muster an interception try from Jordan Howells.
The first try came off a solid attacking scrum from Ponty which saw Rowlands touch down in the right hand corner for Diggy Bird to convert. On the stroke of half time Ponty got their second try when flanker Rhys Shellard raced 15 metres down the touchline after an overlap was created.
Bird expertly converted from the touchline to see Ponty deservedly go in at the break 17-0 ahead. Ponty’s first try of the second half came when Sweeney dotted down at the posts following a series of powerful driving maul’s by the visiting side.
From the re-start Ponty went the length of the field and, as Shellard drew the last defender, he found wing Webber up in support to score his side’s bonus point try in the corner. With Ponty again on the attack, Bargoed’s Howells stepped in to intercept on halfway and race clear to score an opportunist try.
Reigning champions Merthyr bounced back from three straight defeats to come out on top against Newport in a try-fest at The Wern. There were 12 tries in all for the fans to savour with the home side getting seven of them in a 43-33 victory.
The floodgates opened after nine minutes when Merthyr captain Craig Locke crashed over to draw first-blood for the Ironmen. The first of three conversions from Matthew Jarvis made it 7-0 before Newport’s back-line clicked into gear to level things up through full-back Geraint Driscoll.
But the hosts pulled clear again through flying wing Steff Andrews, before an Arron Pinches try sent Merthyr into a
19-7 advantage on the half-hour mark. A try from Tom Pascoe, which Matt O’Brien converted, pulled the Black & Ambers back to within five points, before a pair of former Ospreys stars put Merthyr in control.
Hooker Matt Dwyer barged his way over for the bonus-point and then the evergreen Joe Bearman rolled back the years to put his new side 29-14 ahead at half-time. Newport showed they were not dead and buried and struck back thanks to a 60 metre effort from centre Chay Smith.
But once again Merthyr asserted their authority, this time through Kyle Evans, before flanker Osian Davies made it 43-21 to put the result beyond doubt. But there was still time for Newport to display some exquisite handling to snatch a bonus-point of their own through Joe Cullimore, before Curtis Ayling grabbed another late consolation.
