Fixture

Playing his first game at 10 for injury-ravaged Beddau Zak Byard`s kick-off was deep.  Pontypool offended at the exit and Byard opened his scoring account for the club.   Pooler`s response was to pile on the pressure up front and a scrum penalty was nudged to touch.  The drive was halted illegally and Pontypool again used the touchline but to no avail.

With the siege lifted Beddau began to make inroads and the scrum, after suffering some early indignities, had become much steadier, so much so that Number 8 Joe Miles was able to comfortably pick up at the base and set Lloyd Peart on a run.  Paddy Connolly provided the midfield pivot and the speedy Adam Ashford scored a try that Zak Byard improved.

Pooler struck quickly and gave Beddau an ominous foretaste of what was to come.  From a rolling kick left wing Jordan Thomas gathered and headed for the flag.  The tackle was made but support arrived quickly and some deft handling from flanker Craig Attwell opened the door for impressive full back Ethan Davies to score wide out.  Matthew Jones nailed the conversion.

Soon Beddau`s 10 point lead had evaporated entirely when Rob Nash took a lineout catch and reappeared to claim the try at the culmination of the drive.  It went unconverted and Pooler led 12-10 at the interval with more grief arriving for Beddau in the loss of seasoned prop Owen Cotton who had somehow spotted a rung on the injury ladder.

The second half began with home full back Ethan Davies taking a high clearance and speeding instantly into attack mode.  The ball went through the hands with Lewis Prothero and Clayton Gullis exchanging passes at some pace to open the way for Ethan Davies to complete a fine score.

Davies hadn`t finished.  His elusive running again unlocked the Beddau midfield and winger Jordan Thomas finished with Matthew Jones converting.

When trailing 24-10 after a mini blitz of scoring what you don`t need is a referee who, however temporarily, switches off.  Clayton Gullis was on the end of a ball served up from some Beddau mishandling.  The centre was tackled but rolled and regained his feet.  All quite proper.  On recovering his footing, however, Gullis collided with a team mate who was ahead of him.  Accidental offside?  Apparently not.  The ball went quickly into midfield and hooker Jamie Jeune`s blue scrum cap appeared.  That he had overrun the ball carrier was not a view shared by official Aaron Parry and the try and Matthew Jones conversion added only 7 points to an overwhelming defeat.

Beddau were now a badly wounded animal, a fact not lost on Ethan Davies who again displayed his nimble footwork in stepping through the defence to set up a try and conversion for Matthew Jones and when Clayton Gullis went over for a far too simple score replacement Tom Hancock added the points.

A scrum at the 5 metre line was beautifully controlled and captain Rob Nash claimed his second try of the game with Tom Hancock again on the mark just as he was with a touchline effort to improve a dashing try in the corner from Kieran Meek.  Replacement scrum half Martin Luckwell added his name to the scorers when he dummied his way in and Hancock notched the conversion.

A defiant Beddau had a final shot in the locker and when the scrum had won a reset a further binding infringement brought a free kick which Dai Francis took quickly and sprang the defence for a good try that Zak Byard converted.

This was, for Beddau, not a good day in the office.  There was a satisfying first appearance for under-20 international Callum Bradbury; a welcome, if surprising return for hooker Matthew Hunt who has been away from the game for such a long time and a continuing learning curve in the progress of teenagers Tom Stacey and Sam Tiley.  Pontypool were good, very good and Beddau will not be run so ragged again.