Ystrad march on to the cup play-offs

YSTRAD Rhondda have advanced to the Championship Cup play-offs after a hard-fought 31-17 victory over Beddau.

The hosts scored four tries in total with Jarryd Llewellyn, McCauley Rowley, Jay Harries, and Liam Greening touching down, while Rhys Truelove kicked 11 points. Beddau crossed for two tries of their own courtesy of Liam Jones and Peter Isaac.

“We are absolutely over the moon to qualify for the next stage of this competition,” said Ystrad Rhondda team manager Bradley Hughes.

“The most pleasing thing about it is the number of youngsters we’ve got in our squad who have really stepped up. We’ve selected a different team every weekend to give everyone an opportunity and everyone has done well, and we are looking forward to the rest of the Championship Cup.”

Narberth also progressed to the next round after a comprehensive 43-12 victory at Trebanos.

Young scrum-half George Macdonald was the star of the show scoring a hat-trick of tries and was presented with the man of the match award by Wales and British & Irish Lions legend Robert Jones.

The game was over as a contest at half-time as Guto Davies, Steffan Phillips, and Macdonald crossed for tries. Narberth ran away with it in the second-half with Macdonald scoring a further two tries, while there was also a penalty try awarded. Nick Gale kicked 13 points, with Narberth having comfortably qualified for the play-off’s with the Pembrokeshire side 14 points clear at the top of their group.

Bargoed have also qualified for the knockout stages as they won an entertaining clash 24-22 at Bedwas. Wade Langley, James Leadbeater, and Steff Thomas scored tries for the visitors, with Josh Prosser and Steff Jones kicking nine points between them.

Elsewhere, Neath finished their underwhelming Championship Cup campaign off on a winning note with a 36-20 win over Tata Steel at the Gnoll. Owain Morgan, Nicky Griffiths, Dai Griggs, Ryan Evans, and Morgan Williams scored their tries, while they were also awarded a penalty try.

To their credit, Tata Steel were competitive throughout with Liam Tobias, and Morgan Williams scoring consolation tries. Martyn Fowler’s Glamorgan Wanderers also tasted victory this weekend as they recorded a 25-10 away win at Cardiff Met. They scored crossed the whitewash three times in total courtesy of Josh Male, Dan Watts, and Mike Owen, while Amir Saleh contributed 10 points from the kicking tee.