Bedwas RFC 102 Ynysddu RFC 0.
WRU Admiral Championship East, Saturday 18 April 2025.
Match report and photography by Ian Lovell.
As the old adage says ‘you can only play what’s in front of you’ this may have some relevance, the Ynysddu side never gave up despite being on the end of an overwhelming Bedwas performance. Bedwas were stronger all round, but it should allow some plaudits to a Ynysddu team shorn of numbers who kept going to the final whistle.
At the start of the game the sunshine gave this the appearance of an early Spring afternoon, but cloud cover soon came over making the temperature drop.
Ynysddu started brightly but Bedwas held firm and took the lead after four minutes from a catch and drive try, Arwel Hughes being driven over the line. James Hallett added the extras.
Bedwas had chances to increase their advantage, but these were not taken until the sixteenth minute when Rhys Morgans ran through for an unconverted try.
Ben Sier grabbed try number three as he crashed through the visitor’s defence, Hallett adding the conversion,
Bedwas were now beginning to find their rhythm and just after the half hour Adam Williams ran through for a try, James Hallett’s conversion kick hit a post and bounced to safety.
Williams added a second try again unconverted before Eli Shuffley added try number six on the last play of the half but injured himself in doing so, Hallett added the extras.
Bedwas made changes at the start of the second half, Shuffley being replaced by Tristan Kugler with Sier and Eedy being replaced by Dewi Thomas and Lewis Crane respectively.
With less than a minute played in the second half played Adam Williams ran through for try number seven converted by Hallett.
Tristan Kugler added try number eight four minutes later after a run from deep, Hallett converted to put his side fifty points ahead.
Bedwas were in no mood to take their collective feet off the gas and with ten minutes played Adam Williams ran through the visiting defence for try number nine, James Hallett added the conversion.
Rhys Morgans ran in try number ten after eighteen minutes as fatigue became an issue for Ynysddu with no front row replacements available scrums became passive for the rest of the game.
Brynley Toms and Jordan Rogers came off the replacements bench for Harri Dobbs and Rhys Hutcherson, respectively.
Ynysddu fought hard to prevent further Bedwas scores but with tiredness setting in Bedwas were able to step up a notch three further Bedwas tries in five minutes increased the home advantage. Lewis Crane crossed the whitewash after twenty-two minutes; Adam Williams notched his fifth try of the afternoon and Brynley Toms dived in for a try all in a purple patch of five second half minutes. James Hallett converted the first and last tries of this period.
Bedwas showed no mercy as the game entered its final ten minutes. Lewis Crane claimed his second try of the day with nine minutes to play, James Hallett converted.
With five minutes to play Dewi Thomas ran through for his first Bedwas try for the first fifteen, converted by Hallett and two minutes later Tristan Kugler ran through for try number sixteen converted by Hallett. With Bedwas reaching a century of points the referee ended the contest three minutes early.
It is believed that this result is the Bedwas’s biggest winning margin in the club’s history and also sees the Bedwas ‘points for’ column exceed one thousand points for this season.
The Bedwas man of the match award sponsored by Casa Mia Restaurant of Caerphilly was awarded to Adam Williams.
Bedwas RFC gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our sponsors some of whom enjoyed an afternoon as guests of the club. Thank you to you all for your support without which the club would struggle to function.
Today’s match images can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bedwasrfc/albums
