Bridge of sighs for the All Whites

What a turn up! Championship contenders Swansea had confidently predicted gaining maximum points from this encounter.

Instead, the star-studded All Whites were taken to the cleaners by Welsh Division One bottom club Newbridge.

Not even the return to duty of Wales fly-half Arwel Thomas after a knee injury could inspire Swansea who next week-end meet Cardiff in the Swalec Cup Final.

Indeed it was a mistake by Thomas which led to the second of Newbridge's five tries.

His pass was smartly intercepted by Newbridge full-back Jason Williams, who then raced fully 80 metres for a corner touch-down. Before that, Swansea were shocked as the home side displayed impressive forward power for number eight Julian Derrick to put them in front with a deserved try after just ten minutes.

Briefly Swansea drew level thanks to tries from lock Danzi Niblo and wing Alan Harris.

But the All Whites' hopes of a cup and league double were severely dented as Newbridge pulled out all the stops to stay in front at the interval thanks to a neatly converted try from lock Andrew Gwillym in reply to one by Swansea flanker Rob Appleyard which went unconverted.

When Newbridge renewed their offensive they once again stretched their lead with a well taken try by scrum-half Richard Williams, as usual following a bulldozing forward drive.

His namesake Jason added the conversion points.

But the loudest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for skipper and hooker Leighton Phillips when he pounced from a line-out for a try.

And although Swansea responded with a second try from the hard working Appleyard, converted by Aled Williams, there was no way the All Whites could now pull this one out of the fire.

WELSH NATIONAL DIV ONE

P W D L T B Pts

Pontypridd 18 16 0 2 89 16 48

Swansea 18 12 0 6 106 20 44

Llanelli 19 13 2 4 95 13 41

Cardiff 18 12 1 5 83 10 35

Bridgend 17 9 1 7 71 10 29

Neath 18 8 0 10 64 8 24

Newport 18 9 2 7 60 4 24

Ebbw Vale 19 10 2 7 39 2 24

Dunvant 19 8 2 9 59 4 22

Caerphilly 19 2 0 17 47 8 12

Treorchy 19 3 0 16 47 3 9

Newbridge 20 4 0 16 41 0 8

WELSH NATIONAL DIV TWO

P W D L T B Pts

Cross Keys 22 18 0 4 96 14 50

Llandovery 20 15 0 5 98 18 48

Aberavon 20 14 1 5 96 18 47

Abertillery 22 13 0 9 55 6 32

Bonymaen 22 11 1 10 65 8 31

UWIC 20 9 1 10 80 11 30

S W Police 21 11 1 9 77 7 30

Pontypool 21 10 2 9 65 7 29

Maesteg 22 9 0 13 53 7 25

Blackwood 22 7 0 15 44 3 17

Abercynon 21 4 0 17 40 4 10

Ystr'nlais 19 2 0 17 29 1 5

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