Armed with the news that bonus point victories for the remainder of the season should be enough to see Ystradgynlais finally achieve promotion after two narrow misses in consecutive years, the Blues make short work of Glais by running in 8 tries en route to a 46-0 shut out win. Following a fairly laboured opening the home side eventually crossed for the first score around the ten minute mark when Number 8 David Love crossed wide out. Some neat close contact work drew in a handful of Glais defenders which allowed Love to take the ball up on the blind-side and use Centre Keiron Jones on the crash ball, he fought off two tacklers and offloaded back to Love on the loop who dived over in the corner. Fly-Half Hywel Evans added the tricky conversion from a difficult position out near the touch-line and in equally difficult conditions.

The Ystrad backs were showing some great handling in the horrendous conditions and a neat interchange between Evans and Centre Matthew Soroka near midfield set up a second scoring chance. Winger Justin Parsons tip-toed his way down the far touchline before hacking a testing ball up-field for Evans to chase, he wrestled the opposing Full-Back for position and possession which resulted in the Blues 10 falling on the ball over the line however, the ref saw things differently and ruled out the score for an alleged push. Ystrad were dominating in every area yet the second score just didn’t seem to want to arrive; Full-Back Sean Harries punished the visitors for a loose kick with a dancing run through the heart of the team, when the ball was worked right Lock Craig Jones appeared to pop off to Winger Ian Evans who powered and twisted his way through two defenders only to have the ball held up by inches.

Glais were really struggling to get any kind of footing in the match but were handed a lifeline in the 25^th minute of play through a penalty deep in Ystrad territory, however following some patient and effective forward work the move broke down with the centre’s and they were turned over. Worse still was to come when just a minute or so later their misery was compounded when the home side surged up field to finally add a superb second try with relative ease. Jones again shrugged off a pair of would be tacklers at halfway before releasing Parson out side who stretched his legs for the line and crossed in the far corner for an unconverted try. Following an unexpected lull in proceedings Harries capped off a fine first half with a stunning solo effort; he again tore through the heart of the Glais defense following some strong work from Jones and blazed clear for the score, punctuating it with an ever so elegant dive.

Half-Time: YSTRADGYNLAIS 19 – 0 Glais

After the restart Ystrad make fast work of collecting the all important fourth try and resulting bonus point when Ian Evans dived over in the corner after some great close handling had put him in. Around the hour mark the Blues again crossed wide out when as a result of some neat handling in the deteriorating wet conditions, Lock Carwyn Lawrence cut a great angle to race clear untouched.

As the weather continued to worsen the level of play finally succumbed to the elements and the final quarter was littered with errors by both outfits. Nevertheless Ystrad still managed to finish with a bang and crossed another three times in the closing stages. Firstly a beautifully delayed pass from replacement Nathan Holsgrove allowed Keiron Jones to burst through a valiant tackle attempt and cross under the posts for a wonderfully deserved try for the Centre. The penultimate try arrived following a great break by Christopher Thomas through the beleaguered Glais defense; his offload found Craig Jones in support who wisely realized he didn’t have the pace to go himself and instead drew the last man and put Love over for the converted score. The Blues were really piling on the hurt in search of important extra score to aid their try-count and an eighth was added as time expired; Holsgrove chased a kick up field and tussled the visiting full-back at the line coming away with possession and a final score for which a conversion wasn’t even attempted.

Full-Time: YSTRADGYNLAIS 46 – 0 Glais