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12 November 2018 / Club News

Tough To Take Loss For Green & Golds....Again

Beddau 20 Newbridge 25

Match report by Lynn West

Heavy rain in the morning had placed this game in doubt but with the weather forecast promising little or no further rain the game went ahead and the pitch, after a little gardening, stood up well.

Newbridge had the first points on the board when referee Mr Brian Powell signalled that a maul had been taken down and Sam Withers, a former Beddau player, landed the points.

It became one-way traffic with Beddau constantly pressing for a score and when Glenn Slater crossed following a drive up front the referee, who did not alter his unfavourable position, felt unable to award the try.  That was the first of three such incidents before half-time, and, in fairness Mr Powell may have been right on the next two as Newbridge had bodies around the ball.  Slater, however, was clearly the only man in possession when he crossed and nobody had got beneath him.

The siege was lifted and for quite a few minutes Newbridge looked threatening and when Sam Withers wriggled out of tackles in the Beddau 22 scrum half Mathew Davies popped a pass to Christian Francis and the ex-Beddau back rower scored for Sam Withers to convert.

Withers was on target again when Beddau offended at the breakdown and it may be revelatory that from 4 penalties, in the first half, Newbridge garnered 6 points.  Beddau, on the other hand were awarded 11 penalties but took no kicks at goal and were bemused that 8 of the penalties were for scrum offences and 5 of those at the 5 metre line.  Newbridge did lose tight head Chris Davies to the sin bin at the final penalty but the hoped for penalty try did not arrive.  It was 0-13 at half time.

It would need a little more application for Beddau to pull this out of the fire but the second half began promisingly and with Ben White in the van the forwards were quickly setting up at the line.  This time young flanker Josh Thomas in his first start for the Club went clear for a score that satisfied Mr Powell.  Having come from the bench to score in consecutive fixtures this try took Josh Thomas to 3 and level with James Davies and Callum Wheeler.  Hywel Chatham`s conversion made it 7-13 and it wasn`t long before replacement loose head Ben Stephens was burrowing in from close range to take him on to 3 for the season too.  This went unconverted but Beddau were now in stride.

A Newbridge scrum was put under pressure but with Beddau`s back row still engaged long striding Newbridge Number 8 Izaak Duffy made ground and his offload allowed livewire scrum half Mathew Davies to complete a good score that Sam Withers converted.

It was now 12-20 but Beddau`s propensity to shoot themselves in the foot resurfaced when a long kick was safely fielded by Hywel Chatham but in adjusting his position lost the ball.  It bobbed about for a while before Mathew Davies grabbed it for an unlikely score.  Even more unlikely was the attempted conversion.  The Newbridge physio had been screaming at the referee to stop the game as Sam Withers had suffered a suspected broken leg.  A stretcher was summoned yet here was Withers sufficiently restored to take the kick.

Beddau lock Rhys Owens then reached the try line at the flag but Chatham`s kick was narrowly wide.  After 2 minutes of injury time Beddau were awarded a penalty that Hywel Chatham goaled.  A certain amount of stretcher time was probably still available but Mr Powell called it a day,

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