RUGBY LEAGUE
BRIDGEND BLUE BULLS ................ 38 RHONDDA OUTLAWS 36
BRIDGEND Blue Bulls led for one second of their Premier League game against Rhondda Outlaws in Pyle, but it was the most important second of the game as they ran out 3836 winners, Jarrad Vanagas writes.
It was heartbreak for the Pontypridd-based Outlaws who had led for over 70 minutes in the game after Daf Smith had given them an early lead with the first of his hat-trick of tries after just six minutes.
Rhys Pope pulled the Bulls level five minutes later with an unconverted try but Rhys Pope’s unconverted score soon put Rhondda 8-4 up.
Smith then got his second, converted by Taine Hendy to give the Outlaws a 10-point lead, before Dan Forrester scored under the sticks with Gareth Howells converting to bring it back to 14-10.
Further unconverted tries from Smith and Wayne Harrison made it 22-10 to Outlaws but when Kerran Tomlin scored following a great run by Owen Thomas, the Bulls knew they had hope. Howells’ conversion meant that they were just 22-16 down at half-time.
The second half went tit for tat for the first half hour with the sides trading three tries each but with Rhondda, who scored first in the half, never losing the lead. David Albertelli, Max Hendy and John Saniger all scoring for Outlaws with Howells, Aled Cockwell and Nicky Giles replying for Bridgend.
But it was Howells’ boot that made the difference. He converted twice and Outlaws just once, and with minutes to go, Rhondda were holding onto a 36-32 lead.
Then with the final play of the final set of the game, Dale Wood barged through to level the scores with Howells keeping his nerve to kick the winner.
CARDIFF BLUE DRAGONS ......... 12 TORFAEN TIGERS ...... 34
TORFAEN Tigers clinched second place in the final WPL table and will host Bridgend Blue Bulls in the semi-finals after beating Cardiff Blue Dragons 3412 at Glamorgan Wanderers on Saturday.
The Tigers were always in control and their only real blip was conceding a try in each half.
They built up a comfortable 16-0 lead before Cardiff got a try on the board and were 28-6 to the good before their hosts scored again.
Jarad Hinen continued his good form after doing well for Wales in the Student World Cup by scoring four tries for Torfaen. Sam Baker, Curtis Haile and Geoff Hick also crossed with Fraser Stroud converting three of the tries.
Cardiff, who travel to Valley Cougars in the semi-finals in a fortnight’s time, replied through two Ryan Shallish tries, both converted by Dan Henderson.
RUGBY LEAGUE VALLEY COUGARS ..... 54 RHONDDA OUTLAWS 14
VALLEY Cougars ensured top spot in the end-of-season WRL Premier League table after beating Rhondda Outlaws 54-14, writes Ian Golden.
The match kicked off a little earlier than advertised and perhaps it came too soon for the Outlaws as Dean Higgs took just 40 seconds to give Cougars the lead. Mike Hurley converted.
The second try came a few minutes later through Lee Goddard, Hurley converting again to make it 12-0.
A late change in the Cougars side saw Dafydd Hellard play a day after arriving back from the Student World Cup in Australia.
He proved that six games in two weeks wasn’t enough for him and scored two quick tries, Hurley converting the second of them to make it 22-0.
Then Ethan Coombes, celebrating his 23rd birthday, dived over for the first of his hat-trick of tries with Hurley converting to make the half-time score 28-0.
Cougars stormed into the second half and scored another three tries in the first 20 minutes. Shane Lee set up Scott Giles a couple of minutes in, Ross Price ran over for the next before Hurley grounded after receiving Coombes’ pass.
Hurley converted all three to bring the score up to 46-0.
All credit must be given to the Outlaws who refused to give in. They scored three tries in 15 minutes to bring the score back to 46-14.
Morgan Cross went in for the first, quickly followed by Andrew Prouse with Max Hendy adding the extras. Sean Ware ran over for their third and final try.
But the Cougars finished well with Coombes diving over for two unconverted efforts to complete proceedings.