Newcastle E ..26 Tata Steel ...... 28

TATA STEEL held on to beat Newcastle Emlyn at Dol Wiber and leapfrog Beddau into third place in the National Championship.

Tata needed a bonuspoint win to go ahead of Beddau and they did just that with No.8 Matthew Llewellyn scoring a pair of tries.

Emlyn remained firm at the end and scored late through Osian Davies to bag a losing bonus point, although the missed conversion skewing their chances of a draw.

After a cagey start the hosts went ahead through a Shaun Leonard try on 30 minutes. They had looked set to lead at the break but Tata – who beat Emlyn 52-19 on October 22 – levelled through Llewelyn’s first score.

And after the interval Tata extended their lead to 21-7 after scrum-half Ross Parsons and Llewellyn crossed.

They went further ahead through Andrew Spowart, but Emlyn came back with Brynmawr Jones and Barry Thomas crossing before Davies’ late score gave them a losing bonus point as a consolation.