BEDWAS’ hopes of climbing away from the relegation zone were blown away by a clinical Swansea at a windy St Helens ground, writes Ian Lovell.

It didn’t start well for Bedwas as possession was surrendered from an opening phase box kick, the ball going through several pairs of hands before an accurate kick through was pounced on by centre Joe Thomas to open the scoring. Steff Williams adding the extras.

With a strong wind at their backs, Swansea continued to attack and scrum half Matthew Aubrey added another try in the corner to their tally, this time unconverted.

Bedwas tried to get back into the game but surrendered possession too easily when failing to keep control of the ball.

Swansea scored their third try off the back of a Bedwas error as a short pop pass was intercepted by right winger Ryan Griffiths who raced through for an unconverted try.

The loss of the home side's influential outside half Steff Williams through injury looked to be a positive for Bedwas but such hope was forlorn as no scoring opportunities were conjured up.

Swansea increased their lead just before the half time whistle as scrum half Aubrey kicked a penalty to take the score to Swansea 20 Bedwas 0.

Bedwas made changes just before and at half time with James Richards replacing Sion Parry after 37 minutes and Dale Rogers taking over at hooker at the start of the second half.

For Bedwas to salvage anything from the game it was imperative they scored the first points of the second half. They duly obliged via the right boot of Joe Scrivens after Bedwas won a penalty.

Any hopes of catching Swansea were made harder for Bedwas when replacement winger Jordan Rees was sin-binned for a late tackle.

Bedwas made further changes as both half backs were replaced, followed by Brynley Toms and the hapless James Richards, who limped off following the recurrence of a leg injury.

Bedwas reduced the arrears after 64 minutes. From a close range line out the ball was smuggled over the try line under a pile of bodies, Dale Rogers being the last man off the floor to claim the try. Scrivens converted from out wide to lift Bedwas' hopes of an improbable comeback.

Swansea had other ideas and were not about to relinquish what they had earned and extended their lead shortly afterwards with a try from replacement back rower Jon Vaughan. Once again the conversion was missed but it mattered little as the game was all but won for the home side.

Swansea wrapped things up late on with centre Joe Thomas adding his second try of the game, again unconverted, to put the icing on a dominant performance by his side.

Bedwas will need to regroup quickly ahead of a busy festive programme, which starts next Saturday with a game at Sardis Road against Pontypridd. This game is being shown live on S4C and will kick off at 5-15pm.