Division Two West (Central)

Maesteg Celtic 23 Cwmgors 15

Another tough assignment in an unrelenting division, saw Cwmgors overcome by Maesteg Celtic.

But the Cherries stuck to their task to the bitter end and finished strongly - their late revival saw them missing out on a losing bonus point by only the most slender of margins.

In a tight opening half, the visitors took the lead via an early penalty from the boot of outside-half Steff Rees, but the hosts soon found their momentum, and were rewarded with the opening try of the game. They followed up soon after with a penalty success.

Cwmgors attacked sporadically in an even game that ebbed and flowed, but their rolling mauls failed to find a weakness in the home defence.

The closest they came to scoring a try was man of the match Iwan Davies burst from his wing to follow up a kick out of defence, but the luck of the bounce went against him.

Leading 8-3 at the interval, Maesteg flew out of the blocks in the second half and managed to score three quick tries in a purple patch to secure the bonus point and all but kill the game at 23-3.

But a resilient Cwmgors refused to lie down and, in bitingly cold conditions – which included a hailstorm of biblical proportions, warmed the travelling support when quick ball was swept along the backs for winger Gavin Madge to finish in the corner.

Cwm battled away and their efforts brought further reward in virtually the last move of the game when a superb solo break from Steff Rees took him all the way in to score a try he converted himself.

The visitors were left a point short of the bonus however.

The victory saw Celtic climb to third while Cwmgors sit in ninth with a record of four wins from twelve starts.

Cwmgors host Taibach at the Maerdy on Saturday.