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Following a preseason injury Bridgend Athletic club captain Ben Howe made his first appearance of the season to inspire his side to a 39-0 win away at 3^rd placed Kenfig Hill. Following the narrow Maesteg Quins defeat coaching assistant Gerald Williams said he could see the Athletic were improving and green shoots appearing, while backs coach Stuart Morris called for more adventure from the team. Scoring 7 tries saw the green shoots sprout and certainly answered the adventure request, while superb defence kept the Mules at bay despite them having some long periods inside the Athletic 22.

The first try came after 5 minutes when the Athletic drove a line out driving maul for 30 metres to within 5 metres of the home try line. Scrum half Aled Thomas broke and fed wing Michael Powell who tapped the ball back inside for centre Stuart Floyd-Ellis to go over for his first try of the season. In the twelfth minute hooker Lee Murphy opened play inside his own 22 with the ball soon reaching wing Mike Powell via outside half Luke Bevan and centre Tom Jenkins. Powell’s speed proved too much for the covering defence racing 75 metres to cross the whitewash. Bevan’s conversion made it 12-0.

Playing down the slope and capitalising on an Athletic defensive error the Mules camped inside the Athletic 22 for 10 minutes. The Athletic arrived at the ground with a front row crisis with two regular props missing. Hooker Nathan Holman stepped into the breach and soon grew into the role. The siege was finally ended when Holman and fellow front row partners prop Matt Muir and hooker Lee Murphy drove the home side scrum back 15 metres to gain a relieving penalty.

Centre Stuart Floyd-Ellis broke from just outside his 22 and a kick to the corner almost resulted in a try for wing Dan Howells. Flanker Ben Davies then surged forward and fed his supporting captain flanker Ben Howe who sprinted 30 metres to the line holding off two tacklers to cross for an apt try on his 100^th Athletic senior appearance. In the final move of the half Kenfig Hill had a scrum 5 metres from their line. Murphy stole the ball against the head. No 8 Sean Williams picked up and fed outside half Bevan who powered his way over. This gave the Athletic a try bonus point and half time 22-0 lead.

MOM Nathan Holman was proving a chip off the old block of his Athletic stalwart father prop Ian and helped his pack drive the Mules back from their own 5 metre scrum put in for No 8 Sean Williams to touchdown for a pushover try.

The Athletic playing with confidence saw flankers Ben Howe and Ben Davies combine to run out of their own 22. Centre Tom Jenkins carried on the move before a well-timed pass saw wing Dan Howells run 40 metres to cross for his 6th try of the season. Stuart Floyd-Ellis added the conversion to stretch the lead to 34-0.

The Athletic saved the best try for last. A crunching tackle from lock Ben Cording deep inside his own half saw fellow lock Jonathon Stoker turn over possession. Michael Powell ran strongly before handing on to Dan Howells. Howells and Floyd- Ellis inter passed before Howells put supporting No 8 Sean Williams over for his second try of the game and join Howells as leading try scorer for the season with his sixth try.

The Athletic emptied their bench bringing on forwards Andrew Brown, Cameron Thomas, Sam Treharne, Jacob David and wing Tom James. There followed a fascinating final 15-minute spell as Kenfig Hill playing for pride looked to get something from the game, while the Athletic were determined to keep their line intact. The Athletic defence prevailed, and they made the short journey back to their clubhouse pleased with a job well done.