Bargoed 35 Caerphilly 35

A ten try exhibition of running rugby gave both sets of supporters something to talk about after this exciting encounter at Bargoed Park. Caerphilly stormed into a 0-21 lead by the half hour.

Centre Lee Mullin grabbed the first, ably assisted by scrum half Alun Ford. The second was rather fortunate but welcome nonetheless, when Blues outside half Jamie Howells’ grubber kick through the centre, bounced off flanker Gareth Johns’ legs and up into his arms for a run in under the posts. Number eight Sam Feehan completed the first half scoring for the Cheesemen with a catch and drive from a lineout. All three tries were converted by outside half Dan Ellis.

Undaunted, Bargoed pressed the well organised Caerphilly defence and they finally cracked when prop Craig Gain killed the ball at a ruck on the try-line and referee Sean Bricknell got out the yellow card. The Blues made the extra man count and with 39 minutes on the clock their first points of the afternoon were registered.

Centre Rhys Humphries broke through the middle with support from flanker Huw Davies. Darren Humphries straightened and fed outside half Jamie Howells who went round under the posts. Howells converted and Bargoed coach Steve Barber had some talking to do at the break.

Bargoed’s revival looked short lived when two minutes after the restart centre Rhys Humphries was yellow carded for not releasing close to the Bargoed line. Caerphilly chose a scrum and the Barged eight disrupted it and got the put in and cleared. Spurred on by some great defence, Darren Humphries set off on a run finding lock Adam Kidley outside him, where his fellow centre should be.Prop Robbie Young showed deft handskills to pop up a pass to Jeremy Lovell coming in off his wing to again combine with Kidley and Young for the prop to give a try scoring pass to second row Dan Crandon. Howells converted and Bargoed had narrowed the gap to 14-21.

Caerphilly however were in no mood to let Bargoed back into the game and extended their lead yet again with a superb effort involving backs and forwards to put centre Lee Mullin over for his second of the afternoon and the bonus point. Ellis again converted and the Blues were 14 points down as the game entered the last quarter.

It looked not to be Bargoed’s day as flanker McCarthy’s great take at the back of a lineout saw the balled knocked on over the line and a repeat knock on moments later following a typical Lewis Wayman surge from the back of a scrum. But the vital score eventually came with wing Richard Thomas fielding a difficult kick in the swirling wind. He made ground and found replacement flanker Adam Cullen. Superb awareness saw him hold the ball, looking for support and it duly came from Rhys Humphries who was given the simplest of opportunities just right of the posts. Replacement outside half Danny Jones converted 21-28.

Caerphilly were desperate not to let Bargoed back in and again they extended their lead to 14 points with a well worked try from a scrum 20 metres out - scrum half Alun Ford feeding wing Paul Adams for a run in. Ellis completed a fine afternoon with the boot with five from five.

Bargoed threw everything at Caerphilly with five minutes left. Ellis kicked long as he had done successfully all afternoon, but Bargoed full back Geraint Hodges fielded and counter-attacked from deep. He made some 60 metres before offloading to centre Darren Humphries and scrum half Matthew Hutcheon appeared on his shoulder to score under the posts and get the bonus point. Jones converted and amazingly Bargoed were back within seven points.

The final minutes were intense. Bargoed conceded a penalty in midfield on their ten metre line and it looked as if that was that. Ellis had started his run up when the ball fell over and committed, he had to pick up the ball and attempt a drop goal which went wide. Bargoed put the ball back upfield. Caerphilly attempted to clear but had taken the ball back inside their twenty two. They infringed from the resulting line out and ever alert Matthew Hutcheon tapped the penalty and went, popping up a pass for Darren Humphries to score right of the posts. The conversion was needed to square the game and Danny Jones slotted it over to the relief of the home supporters.

Coach David Lynch “ That was a great performance by both sides but I am delighted with our never say die attitude. To come back from 21-0 and a 14 point deficit twice in the final quarter is no mean feat and I guess that we will settle for three points from this result. It’s been a long time since anyone scored five tries against us.”

Scorers Bargoed: Tries - Howells; R Humphries; D Humphries; Crandon; Hutcheon. Cons - Howells (2); Jones (3) Caerphilly: Tries - Mullin (2); Johns; Feehan; Adams. Cons - Ellis (5)