EBBW Vale right wing Steffan Jones ensured his team would chalk up their third consecutive Principality Premiership victory by crossing for two of his team’s three tries in this drab affair against the Welsh All Blacks.

Jones crossed for a 20th minute try in the corner after successfully hanging on to a high pass from centre Jordan Howells and then rounded off an excellent passing movement featuring centre Dominic Franchi and wing Tom Watkins to sprint over the line.

Vale outside half Iain Smerdon added the conversion points to both tries with excellent wide angled kicks before replacement hooker Jo Franchi capitalized on a great surge by the pack to cross for a pushover try.

But the enthusiastic home crowd had very little to cheer about on an afternoon when far too many errors and a stream of infringements ruined the game as a spectacle.

Apart from Steffan Jones, Ebbw Vale were well served by locks Damien Hudd and Ashley Sweet and dynamic flanker Cameron Regan.

Neath, however, can take pride in their dogged defensive work, and none worked harder than flanker Jordan Collier, They also staged a gritty second half fightback which would have been more productive had not their centre Dean Howell and replacement hooker Ieuan Dobbs been shown yellow cards in the 64th and 78th minutes respectively.

Neath are still looking for their first win of the season having also been beaten by Newport and Carmarthen Quins in their opening league games.

Steffan Jones said after the match: “The boys are quite disappointed because we missed out on grabbing a bonus point after failing to score a fourth try. I think that says a lot about the ambition we have at Ebbw Vale. Neath made the game quite messy which probably suited them better than us but you could not fault them for effort. When the game finally opened out we managed to get the points on the board.

“ On a personal note, I am very pleased I got two tries. I didn’t start the season in the side but I cam off the bench last week and started the game today so those tries gave me a real boost.”

Ebbw Vale: D. Williams (J. Rosser 48); S. Jones, J. Howells, D. Franchi, T. Watkins; I. Smerdon, L. Jones ( C. Thomas 48); R. Jones (K. Bale 59), M. Williams (J. Franchi 17), R. Sevenoaks, (L. Fairbrother 59) D. Hudd (capt.) (J. Bartlett 74), A. Sweet, L. Crocker (E. Doyle 55), C. Regan and H. Keddie.

Tries: S. Jones (20 and 74 mins), J. Franchi (80+1 mins)

Cons: I. Smerdon (2)

Neath: A. Bramwell; A. Jenkins, R. Evans, D. Howell, J. Jones C. Morgans 79); I. Evans ( G. McCarthy 26), T. James; N. Downs (capt.) (A. Coundley 57), S. Crocker (I. Dobbs 68) , G. James, R. Jones (J. Griffiths 63), J. Barley. L. Ward ( C. Davies 49), J. Collier and S. Jones (C. Price 40).

Referee: Mr. Neil Hennessey (Cardiff)

Star man: Steffan Jones (Ebbw Vale)