New Dock Stars held onto the ‘Dai Morris Cup’ and booked their ticket to the WRU Division 3 Cup final at Principality Stadium with a thrilling 41-36 semi-final triumph over never-say-die Rhigos at Tonmawr.
Their prize for winning is a clash with Tumble at the home of Welsh rugby on Sunday 19 April. Tumble beat Resolven 23-10 in the other semi-final at The Gnoll last weekend.
Former Scarlets and Wales U20 prop Ben Leung was the man of the match for the Stars as he plundered two of his side’s six tries – five of them coming from members of their strong pack.
Rhigos found themselves 16 points adrift at the break before mounting an amazing fight back that saw them cut the gap to a mere two points. They went down to 13 men at one stage yet displayed huge pride, tenacity and commitment to stay in the fight right to the end.
The Stars’ other tries came from centre Gareth Davies back row men Iestyn Bunyan and Ellis Dickeson and hooker Rhys Cherry. Full back Adam Gealy converted four of them and added a penalty.
The win also enabled the Stars to hold onto the ‘Dai Morris Cup’ which was put up a decade ago for games between the two clubs. It is named after Rhigos’ most famous player, the former Neath and Wales Grand Slam winning flanker Dai Morris, who played with and against Stars committee member Dennis Davey.
Tumble had an Ellis Payne try and 18 points from the boot of Steve Hewett to thank for their win over Resolven that has set-up an all-Division 3 West final with New Dock Stars. The teams have already met twice this season in the league, with the Stars winning both by narrow margins – 42-31 in Tumble and 42-34 at home.
The game in Neath was tight throughout the first half with Resolven leading 10-8 at the break. Then the pressure from Tumble told as the penalties began to flow in the second half and they were able to kick themselves to a notable win.
Tumble also have another semi-final to play this week in the West Wales RU Bowl. That is against Loughor at Pontarddulais on Tuesday 31 March.
The Stars were beaten 10-8 in the other semi-final by Pontarddulais, who play in Division 2 West, but they are eying up promotion and a shot of the title in their own league. Beaten only once this year in Division 3 West by league leaders Haverfordwest, they are eight points behind in second with three games in hand.
The WRU Division 5 Cup final will see Bargoed Athletic take on Brecon Athletic on 16 April. Bargoed won 41-15 against Dunvant Athletic, while Brecon overcame Tondu Athletic 20-15 in last weekend’s semi-finals.
Bargoed’s ‘Warriors’ had to tame Dunvant’s big pack at Glynneath RFC before getting into the game. Dunvant went 10-0 ahead in the opening 15 minutes but Bargoed responded well with a try from Greg Callow and a conversion from Charlie Williams.
The ‘Warriors’ then took the lead with Adam Jones scoring a try and Williams once again adding the extras. Another Williams penalty then made it 17-10 at the break and he hit the mark with another at the start of the second half.
Dunvant struck back with a well taken try in the corner to close the gap to one score at 20-15, but that was as good as it got for them. A third Williams penalty was followed by tries from Josh Michaels and Leon James.
Williams added two more penalties to take his match haul up to 21 points to steer his side to a final date at Principality Stadium. Unbeaten in Division 5 East this season, the ‘Warriors’ will now be eyeing up a potential league and cup double, although they won’t be alone in that.
Brecon Athletic are currently riding high at the top of Division 5 East Central and were just able to keep Tondu, who are second in Division 6 East Central, at bay.
‘Road to Principality 2026’ – Sunday 16 April
Division 5 Cup Final: Bargoed Athletic v Brecon Athletic (11.00am)
Division 4 Cup Final: Llangadog v Pontyclun (1.15pm)
Division 3 Cup Final: New Dock Stars v Tumble (3.30pm)
Division 2 Cup Final: Aberavon Quins v CRCC (5.45pm)