South Wales Evening Post

Pooler’s title charge rocked by injury to hooker Hughes

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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.

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.

Their six-try triumph earned them a bonus point to overtake Penallta by one point at the top of the table. Matt Davies grabbed two tries and the others came from Luke Morgan, Dan Davies, Stuart Vokes and Eamonn Rees.

In One West Central, Bonymaen went level on points with league leaders Skewen with a 66-5 home win over Bridgend Athletic that means the title race will go to the final round of matches.

Third-placed Ammanford beat Brynaman 62-39, while at Kenfig Hill the Mules ran out 50-24 winners against Glynneath.

Newcastle Emlyn extended their lead at the top of One West with a 66-0 home win over bottom side Penclawdd. Second-placed Llangennec­h came out on top 25-14 in their local derby at Hendy.

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