Friday night Round Up: Llanelli and Bridgend

By Dai
December 7 2002

Two Welsh teams were in action on Friday night, Llanelli facing Sale Sharks in the Heineken Cup and Bridgend facing Bath in the Parker Pen Shield.

Friday Night Round-up

Bridgend 28 - Bath 26

    In a closely fought encounter Bridgend came away with a slight advantage before they travel to The Rec next weekend where they can expect a bigger challenge from Bath. Things started well for the Ravens as they raced into a 14 - 3 lead thanks to tries from Gareth Thomas and Christian Loader before Bath hit back near the break with tries of their own from Welsh scrum half Andy Williams and a lucky try from Iain Balshaw on his return to the Bath team after seven months out injured.

    After half time, Bath led by 20 points to 14 although it was Bridgend who scored first in the second half thanks to a penalty from wing Craig Warlow. This was followed by a second try for captain Gareth Thomas which put the Ravens into a 22 - 20 lead. However two penalties for Bath put them back in front until right at the death when Bridgend were awarded a penalty and Craig Warlow struck it between the uprights to give Bridgend the advantage as they prepare for a second battle next weekend.

Sale Sharks 19 - 30 Llanelli

   This game seemed to have everything, seven tries and two red cards and it was Llanelli who came back from Heywood Road with the victory. Llanelli crossed for the first try of the evening after only 90 seconds thanks to Scott Quinnell and then this was followed by a second try which Robin McBryde scored. However it was Sale who went into half time with a 19 - 15 advantage thanks to three first half tries through Mark Cueto, Jim Thorp and Vaughan Going.

   The other action of the first half was a mass brawl which resulted in red cards for Iain Fullerton of Sale and Dafydd Jones of Llanelli. In the second half Llanelli managed to score a further two tries through Garan Evans and Martin Madden which gave them a valuable win and maintains their interest in this seasons Heineken Cup.