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Bargoed RFC Match Report 

The 1st XV travelled the short distance down the valley to Rhymney Valley neighbours Bedwas with a derby match in a National Championship fixture. 

Bedwas is a notoriously difficult place to get a result and they had recently played title contenders Neath and pushed them all the way in a narrow defeat.

Bargoed were travelling on the back of a great win against Cardiff Met in a really entertaining game last week. 

Bedwas were the first to score when Bargoed conceded a penalty after four minutes which was kicked by James Dixon. 

Bargoed struck back almost immediately with a try from Steffan Jones, taking a great line to score after a patient build up in the Bedwas 22. Jones also converted to make it 7-5. 

Bargoed conceded another penalty which was again converted by Dixon to cut the visitors lead to 7-6.

Bargoed had plenty of possession and showed great ambition in attack stretching the Bedwas defence but dogged defence from the home side, and a couple of individual errors by Bargoed prevented them increasing the lead.

The hosts scored their first try in the corner after a clever line out move to take the lead 11-7 after 18 minutes. 

Bargoed were losing the battle of the contact area and conceded a number of penalties in this area of the game, which resulted in loss of momentum. 

Bargoed eventually started to get some set piece dominance and continued to knock on the door, with Adam Jones, Ollie Andrews and Dylan Williams all going close.  

The break through came after 32 minutes as Bargoed scored their second try, from Lewys Lippiett  from a great driving line-out. Jones converted to make it 14-11 to Bargoed at the break. 

Bargoed came out second half and tidied up the contact area and again moved the ball well, but final passes were not sticking and they looked increasingly frustrated. 

Bargoed had the vast majority of possession but failed to score with Bedwas working hard and defending well.

Bargoed’s replacement hooker Wade Langley was then yellow carded and this gave Bedwas some incentive as they started to open up their attacking game, with the visitors now on the back foot.

Bargoed weathered the storm and when back up to 15 players they piled the pressure on Bedwas and it was James Leadbeater who got over from close range after 71 minutes with Jones converting to make it 21-11.

Bargoed continued to press for the bonus point try and this came after 77 minutes with Ollie Andrews crossing in the corner. Jones converted superbly to increase the lead to 28-11 and get the all important bonus point. 

The Coaching staff will rue the missed opportunities and lack of accuracy. However the positives in this were the style and ambition that Bargoed played with, which caused the hosts some serious problems at times. However credit to Bedwas who defended superbly and were always in the game. 

The 1st XV are due to play Ystrad Rhondda on Wednesday evening at Bargoed Park (Kick off 7.15pm) although this may be moved to Tuesday due to the predicted heavy rain on Wednesday. We’ll keep you posted on these developments. Watch this space!!