Ravens out of the cup
BRIDGEND RAVENS .. 20 RGC 1404 ...................... 31
BRIDGEND Ravens were knocked out of the National Cup by the WRUbacked North Walians in a hard fought game at the Bridgendford Brewery Field.
RGC dominated the opening exchanges but the Ravens managed to keep the scoreline close throughout the first quarter.
Botica and Scrivens traded early penalties before Jacob Botica grabbed the game’s first try. A charged down clearance kick in the Ravens 22 handed the outside half a simple try.
Minutes later, RGC scored again following a strong carry from Tiaan Loots. The centre burst through tacklers to score. Botica converted both for a 17-3 lead before the half hour mark.
Bridgend needed a slice of luck to get back into the match.
Marking his 50th Bridgend appearance, Joseph Scrivens intercepted on halfway and raced away to score. The Ravens’ Supporters Man-of-theMatch kicked the conversion before adding a penalty to narrow the Visitors lead to 17-13.
RGC started the second half with clear intent, racing into the Bridgend 22 directly from the kick off. Dan Howells made an incredible try-saving tackle but the resulting scrum saw centre Loots given the space to crash over for a second try and Botica again converted.
The visitors broke away from deep and raced into the Bridgend 22. Scrambling in defence, Adam O’Driscoll made a tackle which the referee called high. O’Driscoll was shown a red card for the tackle leaving an uphill battle for Bridgend.
The resulting penalty was kicked for touch. RGC drove the maul over for a fourth try but Bridgend wouldn’t concede defeat and went on to dominate the final quarter.
Scrivens’ inventive chip was chased hard by Matthew Edwards, the winger got a toe to the ball but an unkind bounce saw the speedster knock on with the line at his mercy.
Bridgend struck for a deserved second try with just 10 minutes remaining. Replacement lock Jonny Kenny dived over from close range and Scrivens landed the conversion to take his personal tally to 15 points and setting up a nervy final 10 minutes for the visitors who appeared to be well in control until this point.
Despite Bridgend putting plenty of pressure on the North Walians line, RGC managed to hold out thanks to a mixture of resolute defending and poor Bridgend handling.