Bargoed still show fight despite 14th defeat in row

BARGOED were down before they headed to the Talbot Athletic Ground, and now look well and truly out after falling to their 14th consecutive Premiership defeat.

They are 16 points adrift of safety with nine games to play. Ironically, their last victory was when they beat the Wizards 38-18 in October.

They quite literally stayed in the fight as the return fixture featured a near 30-man brawl in the first half. That ended with referee Dewi Phillips sending both captains, Aberavon’s James Garland and Bargoed’s Rhys Morgan, to the sin-bin.

Home centre Joe Gage notched the first points of the game when he jinked over for an unconverted try. Scrum half Rhodri Cole extended the lead with a penalty, yet by the break the visitors were back within a point.

Ashley Norton sent flanker Calum Davies in for a try that Josh Prosser converted.

Bargoed had lost hooker Rhys Buckley half-way through the first-half and then saw skipper Morgan leave seven minutes into the second half.

Fellow prop Alex Gardner-Key followed after the hour and the game had to end with passive scrums. Aberavon were awarded a penalty try after four successive scrums had gone down.

Garland added a penalty to extend the lead and then converted a 30 metre interception try from No.8 Andrew Waite.