Bynea 13 – Betws 37

After a disappointing defeat to Glais in the Konica Minolta Welsh Cup the previous week, Betws responded with a win which should have been bigger had they capitalised on their set-piece domination. The lineout was an area they controlled, with hooker and captain Paul Roberts finding second rows Joe Adams and veteran Gwynfor Evans on a regular basis.

Within minutes of the start, Paul Roberts was held up on a charge over the homester’s line, but from the resulting scrum, No 8 Dan Howells powered over, with outside half Phil Saunders adding the conversion. Betws quickly added to their score when the dominant lineout platform enabled Phil Saunders to break through and put wing Mark Thomas clear to score from 25 metres.

The visitors were also controlling the scrums and after 25 minutes following a strike against the head, Dan Howells put in a storming run to score his second try from 20 metres.

The home team reduced the deficit with a penalty and outside half Rob Charles added an opportunist try when he wasn’t held in a tackle and sprinted clear unopposed from 20 metres. The simple conversion made the score 17-10 in Betws’ favour, but from the kick-off, powerful driving from the visiting pack abetted by slick passing from the backs saw full-back Mathew Rees finishing off a 60 metre break. The first half ended with Charles kicking a further penalty for Bynea making the score 22-13.

The second half saw Bynea continuing to frustrate the visitors with their tenacity at the breakdown ensuring some turnover ball and things were made worse for the visitors by the sin-binning of centre Gary Davies for foul play.

Their continuing dominance in the set pieces though ensured that Betws were able to apply pressure and a storming 50 metre run by Joe Adams following a quickly taken penalty ended with replacement scrum-half Dylan Rees going over in the corner. The return of Gary Davies with his powerful running ensured that the home team’s midfield defence was breached continually creating further tries for wings Rhys Williams and Mark Thomas.

This coming Saturday (November 10th) sees Betws at home to Pontardawe in a league match.

(Apologies for the lack of pictures, but Jeff Thomas forgot his camera!!)

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