photo by Ian Lovell

The Newport Titans ended the Bridgend Blue Bulls reign as Welsh Champions and took away their unbeaten record at their Porthcawl home with a convincing 50-18 victory.

The Pil Harriers based team took full advantage of the under strength Bulls scoring ten tries including a first half hat-trick from Tyrone Mahoney.

After the game Newport coach Earl Palmer “I think the score line flattered us a bit but we are delighted to get our first win over Bridgend and be in the semi-finals, we worked really hard for this and we hope we can go one step further than last year”.

Bulls Team Manager Simon Green said “we are very disappointed to lose our Welsh title after five years but have no complaints as Newport were far better than us on the day. Despite going out in the quarter finals everyone involved within the team can be proud of what we have achieved this year"

The Valley Cougars came out on top 44-26 in a great advert for free flowing summer rugby at Nelson RFC securing a home fixture against the Newport Titans in the Welsh Conference Premier semi finals next weekend.

The teams tested out each others defences early in the game taking the score to an evenly balanced at 18-8 at the break.

The Cougars closed the gap after in the second half but the Cougars stretched away to a comfortable win.

Cardiff Demons got sweet revenge for their last minute defeat in round six of the Welsh Conference Premier by showing a disciplined and controlled performance to overcome the Torfaen Tigers 34-26 in the blazing heat at the Memorial ground in Pontypool.

The Tigers got off to the perfect start with two tries in their opening sets but the Demons then took control and the Tigers would not cross their line again until the 70th minute of the game.

The score was 22-12 to the Demons at half time and despite a late rally by the Tigers they held on for the win.

Next weekends semi finals see the Valley Cougars at home to the Newport Titans on Saturday and Blackwood Bulldogs host the Cardiff Demons on Sunday. Both games kick off at 2:30pm.