Swalec Bowl

Round Four

Ystradgynlais 34 Abercraf 6

Ystradgynlais saw off Abercraf to reach the last 16 of the Swalec Bowl.

The first points came courtesy of visiting outside-half Dane Clancy who slotted over a 35-metre penalty as the Abercraf defence thwarted several Ystradgynlais attacks.

The Blues finally earned a breakthrough as some superb handling put flying winger Bowdy Davies over for one of the tries of the season. Emyr Lawrence converted.

To their credit, Abercraf struck back immediately with another Clancy penalty.

The next score almost went Abercraf’s way after a superb break from captain Carwyn Owen but some superb defence from Emyr Addey kept the Blues’ slender lead intact.

Ystrad hooker Daniel Morgan crossed the whitewash after a superb blind-side break from a ruck, but Lawrence missed the difficult conversion and Ystrad went into the interval 12–6 ahead.

The second half began in the same competitive manner as the first had ended and a mistimed tackle saw Abercraf reduced to 14 men as Clancy was sent to the sinbin. The Blues took of their numerical advantage, scoring 12 points in those ten minutes.

The first of the second half tries arrived when a Lawrence penalty struck a post and bounced straight back into Ystradgynlais hands. Centre Alex De Melvadre went close before Sean Harries carried three defenders over with him for the five points. The conversion was again missed.

De Melvadre barged his way over the line after some superb work from the pack as veteran scrum-half Leighton Campbell and fly-half Nathan Holsgrove began to take control.

The final quarter became a scrappy affair with scuffles breaking out across the field.

Ystrad did however rise out of the mayhem to score a fifth try through Adrian Lock. Tom Blizzard added the conversion before adding a 40-metre penalty at the death.