Bedwas RFC 32 Glamorgan Wanderers RFC 7
WRU Admiral Championship (East), Saturday 06 September 2025.
Match report and photography by Ian Lovell.
On a warm late summer afternoon, the keenly anticipated 2025-26 season of Championship rugby got underway at the Bridgefield and a great game it turned out to be.
‘Just what the doctor ordered’ seemed to be the verdict of supporters and management after a hard-fought bonus point victory over a resilient Wanderers side.
Bedwas suffered an early blow losing full back Tristan Kugler to a suspected broken collarbone as he appeared to fall awkwardly in a tackle, James Hallett making his Bedwas return in his place.
Both sides took time to settle but it was Bedwas who opened the scoring with a James Dixon penalty from close to the halfway line after 12 minutes.
Six minutes later another returnee in the shape of Luke Crane marked his come back as he broke through for a try converted by Dixon.
Wanderers hopes of a reply failed to materialise although Bedwas also saw a few chances to increase the score go awry.
With five minutes to go until the half time interval Wanderers pulled a try back through centre Bleddyn Morgan, converted by Ceri Morris. No further scores were added.
Bedwas made numerous changes at the start of the second half as Lloyd Jones for Dale Rogers, Alex Meeson for Harry Oliver, Ryan James for Jordan Rogers, and Rhys Hutcherson for Bryn Toms all entered the fray.
Fourteen minutes in the half and a trademark Adam Williams try extended Bedwas’ lead as the evergreen winger made a dart down the left wing bumping off players in his path to cross in the corner. Dixon missed the conversion.
As the half reached the halfway point Luke Crane exploited a huge gap in the visitors’ defence to cross for a try under the posts, Dixon adding the conversion and then adding a penalty goal five minutes later to extend the Bedwas advantage to eighteen points.
As would be expected the visitors continued to battle and put the home line under intense pressure. Whilst the home defence stood firm a series of penalties conceded saw Alex Meeson head for ten minutes on the sidelines as the referee issued a yellow card. Even with Bedwas reduced to fourteen men the defence stood firm and Wanderers failed to add further points.
With five minutes remaining Luke Crane crossed for his hat-trick try as he was on the shoulder of Ben Eedy who made a break down the middle of the pitch. James Dixon rounded off an excellent afternoon for Bedwas by adding the conversion.
Bedwas RFC wishes to thank CDH Construction Ltd (Mr Colin Harding) for their generous sponsorship of this afternoon’s game.
The Bedwas Man of the Match award kindly sponsored by Casa Mia Restaurant of Caerphilly was awarded to Luke Crane.
Next Saturday make the short journey to St Josephs RFC in Heath, Cardiff for their second league fixture, kick off is at 2-30pm.
Today’s match images can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bedwasrfc/albums
