Skewen Prove Tough Nut To Crack As Green & Gold March On

League run extended to 6 wins but visitors make it difficult with never say die attitude

In some ways a comfortable win; in others, a game in which a dogged opponent would not be shaken off. From the start, in fact, it was Skewen going through the motions and Beddau having to resist. From an offside offence Anthony Buselli kicked Skewen into a 3-0 lead but a fired-up Beddau responded straight away. The forwards secured possession and Hywel Chatham ran close to the defence before finding Joe Casella. The centre made space and freed David Francis on the left to see off tacklers on his way to a good try that Hywel Chatham converted.

When Carl Lewis was prevented from entering the ruck area Hywel Chatham landed the penalty to extend Beddau`s lead. Anthony Buselli saw a penalty attempt strike the base of an upright causing some scrambling in the Beddau defence before the danger was averted. Another penalty at the tackle gave Buselli a similar kick. This time he had the distance but was wide.
Hywel Chatham needed just the one chance to punish a scrum offence and make it 13-3 and a clever lineout ploy saw Kristian Parker galloping into space before putting hooker Matthew Howells in with a well-timed pass. Hywel Chatham added the extras and it was 20-3 at half time.

On a heavy and muddy surface Beddau took the field for the second half in a change of jersey. It seemed to do the trick for Callum Wheeler opened up from deep and found Tom Sheppard running a great angle. The winger was forced to check but spotted open side Jordan Goodwin steaming up on the outside for a good try at the flag.

Beddau offended at a tackle when Skewen were forcing the pace and Anthony Buselli landed the points. The outside half was on target again when Beddau hadn`t released but was wide when a penalty, initially awarded to Beddau was reversed when Rob Jones reacted to some unwanted attention.

With Callum Wheeler and Tom Sheppard again combining to light up an attack some great recycling work allowed Hywel Chatham to go wide. Callum Wheeler came back into the line and released David Francis for the emergency winger to notch his second try of the afternoon.

At 30 points to 9 many sides may have given up. Not Skewen though. Back they came, firing on all cylinders. A series of drives in the 22 was dealt with by Beddau`s defence but a dropped pass near the line gave away possession and the clever Anthony Buselli made an opening for the former Neath centre Kevin James to stride through the posts. Buselli converted but Beddau made sure there were no further threats as they ran down the clock.

Having had to select from depleted resources Beddau were happy that Owen Cotton became available at the eleventh hour and also to have had the services of Serviceman Chris Robinson. It was pleasing too to see James Cashin back in action after a few months but another blow was dealt when Jordan Goodwin was forced off with a troubling shoulder injury.

Report by Lynn West