Former Wales lock Paul Arnold scored the sixth and final try on his return to Swansea as the All Whites overtook arch-rivals Neath at the top of the Principality Premiership.
The 42-year-old Arnold, fresh from an Iron Man triathlon, came on as a second half replacement to round off a 41-28 victory at Llandovery that extended his side’s unbeaten record to six games.
And with Neath going down 33-24 at Glamorgan Wanderers it meant Swansea were able to return to the top of the table. Nicky Thomas scored 16 points with a try, four conversions and a penalty.
Two tries from wing Ricky Budina gave the Wanderers a massive home win over Neath, his second try adding to a 26-5 interval advantage to make the game safe. Scott Snedden kicked 18 points to secure the upset, although Neath escaped with a bonus point by scoring four tries through Gareth King, Gareth McCarthy, Kristian Phillips and Craig Price.
Ebbw Vale finally tasted victory at the sixth attempt as a last minute try from full back Andrew Williams paved the way for a 25-19 home win over Llanelli. Outside half Gareth Bowen provided the remainder of the points with his trusty boot, slotting six penalties and a conversion to outkick Luke Richards, who slotted four penalties and converted Ben Morgan’s try.
Carmarthen Quins upset Aberavon 26-11, with wing Ryan Llewellyn crossing twice and Gareth Cull kicking 16 points, although some of the gloss was taken off the victory when scrum half Ricky Richards was sent off in the dying moments for an alleged stamp. Chris Lewis gave the Wizards a brief 5-3 lead in the first-half with his try, but the visitors’ could only muster two more penalties from Matthew Jarvis in the rest of the game.
Cross Keys upset arch-rivals Newport 20-8 with Dai Langdon and Leon Andrews crossing for tries. Gareth David converted both and added two penalties.
Pontypridd hung on for a 20-13 victory at Bedwas in a classic game of two halves. Ponty used the wind to their advantage in the first-half and scored all their points through tries from skipper Nathan Strong and prop Sam Hobbs and 10 points from the boot of Dean Gunter.
But the home side hit back with a try from the re-start by back row man Rob Carter and then edged into losing bonus point territory with a conversion and two penalties from the boot of Gethin Worgan. That was as close as they got, though, as Ponty held on grimly at the death.
Reigning champions Cardiff ran in six tries in their 38-10 triumph at Pontypool with lock Matthew Veater grabbing the bonus point score. Former Wales wing Craig Morgan was another try scorer with Tom Slater, Gareth Chapman, Jimmy Norris and Gareth Davies grabbing the others.
Davies added four conversion to complete the rout on a day when injury hit Pooler lost Steve Taylor with a nasty facial injury that required a trip to hospital. He became the 11th Pontypool player to go onto their current injury list.
