Crickhowell RFC - 36

Cwmcarn RFC - 19

CRICKHOWELL ran Cwmcarn rugged on the weekend and outscored them by six tires to one.

The home team were in the driving seat for the duration of the match and some of the play by the backs and forwards was out of the top drawer.

Matt Griffiths at scrum half never missed an opportunity to break or launch his three quarters and early on in the game a rout looked on the cards.

However, it could have all panned out quite differently as Crick conceded a staggering 26 penalties in the game.

Bizarrely, even during the post-match discussion with the referee, it was not clear why so many penalties had been awarded, much to the bemusement of the Crick pack.

Nevertheless, four tries to the forwards through James Webb, Ben Withey, Martin Lane and Chris Williams coupled with two to backs Adam Howells and Matt Griffiths saw Crick through to a bonus point victory.

Adam Howells converted three of the tries.

During the game, Ben Withey left the field with a nasty looking knee injury and all at the club would like to wish him a speedy recovery.

Bettws RFC -14

Usk RFC -11

SATURDAY saw Usk visit Bettws and scoring wise it was a game of two halves with the home team just coming out on top.

Usk put points on the board early when prop Rob Parry was driven over to score near the posts, with John Green converting.

Usk's flow was disrupted when Jan Coetsee suffered a seriously damaged ankle and was replaced by veteran Stewart Galletley.

The home team increased their lead when Andy Farrell ripped the ball from a Bettws player and fed Emlyn Jones who ran in for the try.

Late in the half Bettws joined the points party with a penalty to make it 12-3 going into the interval.

Into the second half and the Bettws pack started to gain supremacy as they added a further penalty to their tally.

The referee showed a degree of inconsistency by continuously lecturing the Bettws players but actually sin binning Usk players.

Consequently Usk were a man light for half of the second period of play, and capitalising on this numerical advantage, Bettws drove over to score and reduce the defecit to a solitary point at 12-11.

As the clock wound down Bettws went into the lead with a further penalty.

Usk did have one last opportunity to win the game but John Green was unsuccessful with a long distance penalty.

Despite the defeat it was a spirited performance from Usk. Andy Farrell and Tim Jenkins tackled superbly with Andy Pegginton making a number of darting runs.

Rob Siddons also returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines and added some further steel to the Usk pack.