Pooler’s title charge rocked by injury to hooker Hughes
PONTYPOOL hooker Darren Hughes will miss the final few games of the Admiral Championship season after breaking his ankle in the 39-21 victory at Cardiff Met.
Hughes left the field on a stretcher after helping his side stay in the title race and is set to undergo surgery this week.
Pooler’s bonus-point win means the battle for the title is going down to the wire, with them, Bargoed and Neath all still in the hunt.
Neath threw down the gauntlet with a 36-20 home win over Tata Steel on Wednesday to take over at the top from Bargoed.
But Bargoed hit back with a 24-14 win at Maesteg Quins that crucially contained four tries to earn them a bonus point. That meant they went back to the top and hold a two-point cushion with one game to play.
On their last visit to South Parade the match was a resounding forty points victory for the Bulls.
As a sign as to how far the Quins have advanced, the score-line was far closer as a result of a superb defence.
At half-time, the score-line was a close 7-12. Two quickfire tries from Bargoed and a Quins penalty try in the second quarter set up an interesting forty minutes.
The Bulls doubled their lead with three further scores. A Jay Ronan try gave the Quins a glimmer of hope, but no further scores were made.
Maesteg Quins’ former players’ reunion will take place on Saturday, May 7.
Meanwhile, Pontypool are up to third after their triumph over Cardiff Met. They have two games to go and can match Bargoed on 56 points if both sides end with bonus-point victories in their remaining games.
Pooler were 21-0 ahead at the break thanks to tries from Garin Price, Hughes and Ashley Sweet, all of which were converted by Matthew Jarvis. The home side hit back after the break and cut the gap to 10 points at one stage.
Ethan McVeight got the first home try, but Mike Herbert responded with the bonus-point score for Pooler. Then wing Rhoma Zheng and Joe Locke crossed for the Archers and Bradley RoderickEvans added conversions.
Jarvis kicked two penalties to keep his side ahead, but the Pontypool cause wasn’t helped when Scott Matthews picked up a yellow card. It didn’t cost them, however, as Ethan Davies skipped away to add a fifth try at the end.
Tata Steel won 35-26 at Beddau. The game between Ystalyfera and Ystrad Rhondda was postponed.
Newbridge set up what could be a winner-takes-all showdown with Penallta on Saturday after extending their unbeaten run in One East to eight games with a 36-7 win over Risca.
Matt Davies grabbed two tries and the others came from Luke Morgan, Dan Davies, Stuart Vokes and Eamonn Rees.
In One West Central, Bridgend Athletic lost 66-5 to Skewen, while at Kenfig Hill the Mules ran out 50-24 winners against Glynneath.