After last week’s extraordinary round of games left Neath, Pontypridd and Swansea tied at the top, it looked to be Swansea who had the best chance of finishing the weekend as leaders.
The visit of bottom club Pontypool to St Helen’s was not expected to cause any problems, but a spirited start saw Pontypool lead 24 -10 at the break.
After some early pressure from the All-Whites, Pontypool scored three first half tries through Dan Connolly, Morgan Allen and hooker Rhys Buckley.
A shocked Swansea managed to stay in the game through touchdowns by James Goode and Leigh Bevan. After the break, Leigh Bevan crossed again and the outstanding No8 Steffan Jones bulldozed over twice to lead Swansea to a 36 – 24 victory.
Sardis Road played host to a thrilling encounter between Pontypridd and Cardiff, not least because of the inclusion of two former Ponty players, Rhys Shellard and Lee Jarvis, in the Blue and Blacks squad; and both men came back to haunt their former side. First Shellard scored to edge Cardiff in front, then Jarvis came off the bench to put his ex-team-mates to the sword with a stunning last minute try and conversion, to see Cardiff to a 21-20 victory.
Newport kept up the pressure on the leaders with a hard-fought victory at home to Aberavon. Wing Ryan Owen scored a brace of tries and scrum half Andrew Quick also dashed over as Newport squeezed home 28-21.
Neath’s title challenge took another blow at the Knoll as they were comfortably beaten by Llanelli. Johnny Lewis, Craig Hawkins and skipper Chris Keenan all touched down for Llanelli, as they cruised to a 25-10 triumph.
Cross Keys eased away from the relegation scrap with an impressive win over Llandovery. Wing Marcus Johnstone lead the way with two tries while there were also scores for Nathan Trowbridge, Matthew Pewtner and prop Richard Cornock to see Cross Keys to an easy victory, 37 – 8.
