News

Beddau 29 Skewen 13

Yet another training ground injury deprived Beddau of Sam Tiley this week and the WRU Disciplinary Panel handed a 3-week ban to skipper Lloyd Evans.  James Cashin has begun some fitness work, alongside Tyler Wells and David Francis, so there are optimistic signs there but front rowers Jack Dando and Ben Stephens are not yet through the boarding gates and much the same can be said for Lewis Egal, Paddy Connolly and Callum Wheeler.  Cody Baker will be under the knife this week but couldn`t resist one defiant fling; and what a good one it was.

Skewen, for their part, were also short of personnel as a wedding had taken some of their number away.  They would not have welcomed an opening period that saw, first Number 8 Joe Lewis led away looking a little shaken, soon to be followed by hooker Joe Davies whose strong-running carry was halted by a crushing tackle.  An awkward fall required a stretcher-borne departure and Beddau will very much be sending wishes for a safe recovery.

The bright weather deserved a bright response and, to their credit, both sides tried to provide it.  Early runs by the Beddau backs with returning wing Joe Casella prominent looked promising but a few passes went astray and handling errors crept in.  On top of that the lineout radar was misfiring and Skewen were beginning to sense an opportunity.

Beddau conceded a penalty at the breakdown and full-back Gareth Walters kicked the opening points.  Some good hands off the back of a lineout culminated in a sweeping break from outside half Adam Rowlands which left defenders grasping thin air.  Lock Reece Jenkins finished the try-scoring break and Walters converted to make it 10-0 to Skewen.

Beddau won a penalty at the restart and, despite the patchy return so far went for touch.  Hywel Chatham`s kick was inch-perfect and a quick, short throw from Matthew Howells saw the ball returned to the hooker who crashed over in the corner.  Hywel Chatham converted from the touchline.

Tom Slater made a good catch under a high ball but was pinged for not releasing in the tackle.  A good penalty from Gareth Walters made it 13-7 in Skewen`s favour and to pour salt into the wound Beddau`s debutant lock Alex Meesham was forced to the sidelines for treatment to be temporarily replaced by Rhys Owen who became the third young player to make a debut in the boiler in three weeks.

It remained 13-7 at the interval but on the restart Beddau were minus try-scorer Matthew Howells with the patient Tom Geere taking his place.  An early tackle on Tom Slater gave Beddau a penalty as the scrum half had been held down.  Hywel Chatham landed the points.

A series of scrums near halfway had become scruffy and referee Mr Gareth John eventually decided to penalise Skewen and send Marcus Boobier to the bin.  It took only a few minutes for the teams to be restored to parity when Owen Cotton also received a yellow card at a scrum.  The tempo had now been increased by Beddau against a visibly tiring Skewen and although the lively Tom Geere failed to release the unmarked Cody Baker the ball was recovered and Lloyd Peart, on at scrum half, linked with Hywel Chatham to open the way for Jordan Goodwin.  Skewen captain Andrew Collins was too early with the tackle.  He was shown yellow and the 7 point penalty try was awarded.

Tom Geere was again to the fore when Beddau turned over possession.  Lloyd Peart set Chatham in motion and full back Josh Jones entered at a great angle and switched direction with an offload that saw Cody Baker complete a fine score that Hywel Chatham converted.

Skewen entered into the spirit and pressed for a while with wingers Hughes and Billet in turn trying to get round the home defence.  Things at home were now pretty secure, however and Beddau looked, through the steadying influence of Hywel Chatham, to be content to play out time until a sudden explosion of pace saw blindside Leon Rogers dash to the line before putting Cody Baker away for a try at the flag.

Results elsewhere mean Beddau are now up to 2^nd in the table and though would not, in ideal circumstances, be wishing to thrust youngsters into life at the sharp end, coaches Ross Johnston and Tom Slater will be quietly content that props Connor Lewis and Tom Stacey with locks Rhys Owen, Alex Meesham and Sam Tiley have made such significant contributions already.