Cardiff earned a bonus point win at the Wern against Merthyr in the Indigo Premiership.
The blue and Blacks started brightly, but it was the Ironmen who scored first, Josh Jones landing a penalty. Jacob Beetham levelled the scores a few minutes later before the visitors took control. From the restart Cardiff kept the ball alive running it through several pairs of hands before Dewi Cross finished a near length of the field team try. Beetham added the extras.
It was also Cross who got the second try. Merthyr were penalised deep in their own twenty-two. Cross was alert to the defence being asleep and took a quick tap, scampering over under the posts. Merthyr grabbed a try back through Jones to leave the score 8-17 in Cardiff’s favour at the beak.
The Blue & Blacks flew out of the blocks after the restart, Luke Pollock and Arron Pinches opening up the Merthyr defence to send Jacob Lloyd over. Beetham again converted. The bonus point was secured when a Merthyr scrum on halfway went awry. As the ball squirted out Nathan Hudd was quickest to react and with stunned defenders looking on the flanker cantered over from 45 metres.
Merthyr tried hard to get a foothold in the game but defensively Cardiff were solid and repelled the Ironmen as they came forward. The fifth try came when Merthyr decided not to tackle. Hudd charged up the middle and when he linked with Pinches the Merthyr defence just allowed him to power over under the posts.
Both teams made a raft of changes as the game meandered to a close. Merthyr grabbed two late tries as they looked for some reward form a game they were never really in, but Cardiff had the last word as Jamie Hill made a break and drew the fullback to send Kodie Stone over, Beetham’s conversion going in off the post to send the Blue & Blacks back home happy.