BEDWAS will be in the draw for the second round of the WRU National Cup after a hard-earned victory against a dogged Rhydyfelin side who showed plenty of resilience, writes Ian Lovell.

The home side opened the scoring with a very early penalty by David Gratton after Bedwas were penalised at a ruck.

A period of stout defence followed as the home side tried to prevent Bedwas scoring, not without cost though, as a player was sinbinned for a scrum offence. However, being a man down didn’t prove a disadvantage as Bedwas couldn’t get through to score.

Undeterred, Bedwas continued to push forward and, after 23 minutes and a series of attacks, referee Stephen Allsop awarded a penalty try to Bedwas and sinbinned home prop Dale Green.

Again the floodgates didn’t open as the home defence stood up to the challenge and there were no further scores in the half.

If stern words were spoken in the break is not recorded, but Bedwas increased their lead only three minutes into the half as Joseph Scrivens broke from deep and jinked his way past several defenders before diving under the sticks. He added the conversion to increase the lead.

Bedwas continued to attack and indiscipline struck the home side once again as scrum half Garyn Lucas was red carded for punching at a ruck. Bedwas replaced the starting prop forwards, full back and scrum half but it was the home side who scored next as winger Gavin Close crossed out wide for an unconverted try.

Just after the hour mark, Scrivens missed a relatively straightforward penalty but made amends three minutes later as Bedwas sought to kill off the game.

Finally, with 12 minutes to play, Bedwas had some breathing space with Lewis Bowden’s pass finding Kane Teear-Bourge in space and the diminutive winger outpaced his marker to cross for a try converted by Scrivens to put the game beyond their plucky hosts.

Next week Bedwas are back in Principality Welsh Premiership action as they travel to Llandovery, kick off at Church Bank is 2.30pm.