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The Blue Bulls faced one of their sternest tests against a Newport Titans side that had run up some impressive victories over the past 2 weeks. They were also missing a large number of players including Kevin Ellis, John Devereux, Allan Bateman, Karl Hocking, Lenny Woodard and Craig Fox.
Many had fancied the Titans to win but a superb 2nd half saw the Bridgend run out 36-6 winners.
Paul Jones came close to scoring for the Titans early on while Jon Purnell and Jon Williams both came close for the Bulls, but in the fifth minute Dan Shore scored a cracking try for the home side after a superb break from Dai Owen, Jon Williams added the conversion.
The Titans hit back with a try from centre Dan Clements who broke 4 tackles to score under the posts to bring the scores level but Jon Williams put the Bulls back into the lead with a long range penalty to make it 8-6.
In the 40th minute Blue Bulls wing Grant Epton went on a brilliant solo run and scored a first-class try, Jon Williams again added the conversion to give his team a 14-6 half time lead.
The Blue Bulls started the second half with a bang and another superb break and great pass from Dai Owen saw Grant Epton go on a 60 metre run to the line for his second try of the match. Jon Williams missed the conversion but put the Bulls up to 20 points with a tenth minute penalty.
With the sun beating down on the Coychurch Road pitch the fitter team was always going to have the edge and the Bulls coped much better with the heat and scored 3 more tries. Jon Purnell barged his way over in the 15th minute before fullback Marc Davies sprinted clear to score the Bulls 5th.
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Jon Williams then showed he is far more than just a goal kicker by cutting through the Titans defence, he looked certain to score himself but gave a very well timed and unselfish pass to Grant Epton who went over for his hat-trick score himself but gave a very well timed and unselfish pass to Grant Epton who went over for his hat-trick.
For the Bulls Nathan Strong and Dai Owen were superb and made ground everytime they got the ball while although Grant Epton thoroughly deserved his hat-trick they were all great team tries. Youngsters Matthew Wareham and Lloyd O’Connor also came of age and proved they can mix it with the best while Geraint Lewis prepared the team tremendously well in the absence of Ellis, Bateman and Devereux, who could all struggle to get back into the side after this first-rate performance.
For the Titans Dan Clements, Earl Palmer and Peter Ovey looked good in attack but when the Bulls ran the ball in the 2nd half they looked by far the better team.
Next weekend (June 12th) the Bridgend Blue Bulls are again home to the Swansea Valley Miners while Newport Titans face another tough away trip to Aberavon Fighting Irish.
BRIDGEND BLUE BULLS SCORERS:
TRIES:
Dan Shore
Grant Epton (3)
Jon Purnell
Marc Davies
GOALS:
Jon Williams (6)
NEWPORT TITANS SCORERS:
TRIES:
Dan Clements
GOALS:
Ross Palmer
Article by Simon Green
5 Jun 2004
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