07 Mar BRIDGEND 50-27 PONTYPOOL

Bridgend Ravens delivered a sensational second half performance to earn an impressive double bonus point win over Pontypool at the Electric Brewery Field on Saturday.

Baldwin’s men trailed 20pts to 7 at the interval after a dismal first half, but they dismantled the visitors in the second period with some sublime, free flowing rugby to earn 6 points, moving them into the home wildcard playoff places.

The first period was all Pooler, and they wasted little time in crossing for the game’s first try after just 10 minutes through Marcus Jones. Kieran Meek’s conversion was wide, but he did add a penalty soon after to extend his side’s early lead.

Bridgend should have scored almost immediately after a nice counter-attacking move, but Harvey Nash opted to pass when the try line was beckoning, allowing Pontypool to clear.

After 20 minutes, Pontypool extended their advantage with a try from Morgan Allen; the conversion went wide again.

To their credit, Bridgend battled back and Fraser Jones finished a move which started with Ben Burnell’s neatly placed cross kick. Mccauley Rowley gathered and fed Jones to cross out wide. Burnell expertly converted.

Things quickly turned bad for Bridgend, however, when Joseph Gatt received a yellow card just 55 seconds after the restart. Pooler went to the corner and Sam Scarfe dotted down, with Meek converting with almost the final act of the period.

HT Bridgend 7-20 Pontypool

Baldwin immediately used his bench, bringing on Zac O’Driscoll, Ryan Wilkins and Matholwch Iorwerth Scott, aiming for a fast start. The 14 men did just that when Harry Olding’s quick tap penalty was fed to Tom Jevons, who scored under the posts, Burnell’s simple conversion made things interesting.

However, the Ravens were undone again from the kickoff. After confusion following Meek’s restart, wing Marcus Jones scored and the fly half made no mistake in restoring Pontypool’s 14 point lead.

That was Pontypool’s last score of the afternoon as the rampant Ravens stormed to victory. Joseph Gatt was first to score, converted by Burnell.

Two minutes later, Bridgend were ahead. The superb Tom Florence finished a flowing counter attack to score under the posts, and Burnell’s two conversions gave Bridgend what had earlier seemed an unlikely advantage.

With their tails up, it wasn’t long before Bridgend scored again through Joseph Gatt. The wing bagged an unconverted try with just over a quarter to go.

The onslaught continued and Chris Williams, on for Harvey Nash, was the next to score out wide.

Bridgend finished the game in total control, with further tries from Ryan Wilkins and Lloyd Wilkins securing a hugely important home win.

The Ravens have a weekend off next weekend, with Llandovery next to visit the Electric Brewery Field on the 21st March (2:30pm).