PRINCIPALITY PREMIERSHIP EAST

BEDWAS ....................... 29 NEWPORT ...................... 7

BEDWAS head coach Ian Gardner is delighted at his side’s outstanding start to the Principality Premiership, recording their second bonus-point win on Saturday as they beat a plucky Newport side at Bridge Field.

Man of the match Steffan Jones kicked three conversions and a penalty, while he marshalled the game from fly-half and created second-half tries for Matthew John and Adam Williams.

Bedwas were already 15-7 up at half-time with Robson Blake and Ellis Shipp going over for tries, with Newport’s reply coming from Will Evans that Matt O’Brien converted.

“I couldn’t be happier with the start to the season,” Gardner said.

“It’s been two very different performances. We were on a bit of a high after beating Pontypridd up there last week but we knew Newport would be hungry for a win after losing to Cardiff last week. And to be fair, they tackled and tackled and tackled and threw everything at us.

“It wasn’t until about 55 minutes in when we really started getting a foothold.

“But just like against Ponty, we had that extra power which made a difference in the end.

“Steffan was man of the match last week and the same this week.

“Those two kicks for the tries in the second half were sublime.

“The pack that finished the game contained an 18-year-old, a secondteam player and lads on permit from Caerphilly and Llanishen.

“This club doesn’t have much money so we need to develop our own players, and right now we’re doing it well.”

Newport boss Craig Warlow said: “We appreciate coming to Bedwas is going to be tough. We had to start well and stop their big forwards gaining momentum and we did neither.

“We seem to lose patience the closer we get to the line. We’ll work on this in training.” FOLLOWING her recent success in the World Junior Championships, 18-year-old Megan Hamer-Evans from Ton Pentre competed in the European Junior and U23 Championships in Hohenlimburg, Germany.

In contrast to the World Championships in Bratislava which was held on a white water course that dropped 22ft over its 300m length, the Hohenlimburg course only drops 9-12ft so the obstacle gates were placed in tight staggers to create difficulty. What