JACOB A REAL CRACKER IN STYLISH SHOW
JACOB Beetham warmed up for his trip to South Africa with the Cardiff regional side by scoring 26 points to temporarily steer the Blue and Blacks to the top of the Indigo Group Premiership table.
Newport may be the team everyone fears in the league, but Steve Law’s men are very much in the hunt for a title they were well placed to win pre-Covid two years ago.
And in Beetham they have a young player making a huge impact in his first season on the senior circuit.
“Jake is benefiting from playing regular rugby and aside from his obvious talent, his decision-making is improving as he gains experience,” said Law.
“We are losing him along with a number of other Cardiff Academy players – Theo Cabango, Rhys Anstey, Max Llewellyn and Gwilym Bradley – for the next few weeks. That is going to put us under pressure.
“We are due to face Newport at
Rodney Parade on Saturday and that is going to be a far harder challenge with so many players missing.
“But we’ll be back up to full strength when we meet them again in the WRU Premiership Cup on March 26.”
It was the Wizards who drew first blood through No. 8 Andrew Waite, who picked up and drove over from a scrum five metres out in the sixth minute. Aled Thomas added the conversion.
Beetham then got going and added a try and conversion to two earlier penalties to hoist his side into a 13-7 lead. Hooker Alun Rees then crossed for a second home try, which Beetham improved.
Back came Aberavon and a try from Chris Banfield, once again improved by Thomas, meant they only trailed by six points at the break.
The gap was quickly bridged when they took full advantage of a yellow card to home tight-head prop Ollie Drake as they earned a penalty try at a scrum.
That gave them a one-point lead and forced Cardiff to dig deep.
They came up with a great response in the form of three tries in succession. Scrum-half Ethan Lloyd, wing Theo Cabango and Beetham again crossed the Aberavon line to bag the bonus point and Beetham added two conversions.
Aberavon ensured they left with something as Matthew Jenkins secured a fourth try at the death which Thomas again converted.
Cardiff – Tries: J Beetham (2), A Rees, E Lloyd, T Cabango. Cons: J Beetham (5). Pens: J Beetham (2). Aberavon – Tries: A Waite, C Banfield, pen try, M Jenkins. Cons: A Thomas (3).