Fixture

 

Bridgend Athletic got back on track with their third seasonal double of the season defeating the only surviving Div 1 West Central side in the National Plate cup Ystalyfera who have reached the semi-final stage. Their five try 35-3 bonus point victory followed an earlier season 31-15 bonus point victory away to the same opponents.

 

Only five Athletic players front row forwards Matt Muir and Lee Murphy, lock Griff Davies and No 8 Stuart Edbrook and flanker Ben Howe started both games. The Athletic fielded a completely different back division with four youth team player’s half backs Dan James, Luke Bevan, centre Stuart Floyd-Ellis and full back Sam Richards lining up alongside centre Aled Thomas and wings Harry Griffiths and Liam Phillips. Wayne Fooks, Jonathon Stoker and Chris John were the other forwards to start who didn’t play in the reverse fixture.

 

On a wet and muddy surface the game was mainly an attrition battle at forward. Ystalyfera drew first blood in the second minute when a collapsed scrum resulted in a penalty goal for outside half Gareth James. The Athletic responded with a driving lineout from the visitors 22 which resulted in hooker Lee Murphy’s first try of the season. Outside half Luke Bevan converted. Matt Muir and Griff Davies carried well into the visitors 22. No 8 Stuart Edbrook picked up from a set scrum and repeated his try scoring act at Ystalyfera with his fourth try of the season, which Bevan also converted. Another Athletic driving line out saw scrum half Dan James spot a gap to race over from 10 metres unopposed. Bevan’s third conversion saw his side lead 21-3 at half time.

 

Ystalyfera were proving a difficult side to overcome and found themselves pressurising the Athletic  inside the Athletic 22. Turnover ball saw replacement hooker Nathan Holman feed scrum half Dan James who broke the first line of defence to pin back his ears and race 75 metres for an excellent solo try. This bonus point try was the youngster’s sixth of the season in only nine appearances. Bevan again added the extras. The Athletic brought on fresh legs with Zach Evans, Sean Williams and Tom Jenkins joining the action.

 

The back row trio of No 8 Stuart Edbrook,  and flankers Ben Howe and Chris John had made a number of big hits throughout the game. They combined to release Chris John on the Fera 22. He ran through a few defenders to cross for his third try of the season. It was also the Athletics’ 50^th league try of the season and brought up their 350 league points. Bevan kept up his 100% record with his fifth conversion to cap an excellent overall performance helping keep his team on the front foot with well-judged line kicks.

 

Team Manager Paul Hearne commented “It was a very good bonus point win. Ystalafera made us work hard for all the points

 This puts us back in a good position to challenge for top spot in the league. We have some challenging fixtures coming up but we have to be confident going forward.”