photo by Ian Lovell

Blackwood Bulldogs continued their unbeaten start to the rugby league season with this comfortable victory at Aberavon Green Stars.

The damage was done in the first half hour, when the home side were blitzed with six unanswered tries.  Andrew Simmons opened the scoring with a try, which Trevor James goaled.  Dale Taylor extended the lead finishing off a move instigated by Kristan Perry, James converted.

There was no respite for the Steelers, as Gareth Price re-gathered the kick off to run half the length of the field to score.  Next, it was Byron Williams turn to touch down with a typical sniping effort.  It was turning now into the Trevor James show, as following his conversion he ran in two

consecutive tries which he converted to give him an 18 point first half haul.

Eventually the Steelers managed to pull themselves together, and the Bulldogs took their foot off the pedal.  The second half was more of a stalemate, as the Steelers enjoyed more than 20 minutes of possession, as the visitors gave a string of penalities and the home side made use of the wind and slope.  If the Bulldogs needed tackling practise they got it in abundance, but their line held well.

The Steelers deserved scores and battling hooker Dai Felton got them with a pair of tries, Lee Drabble converted one of them.  The Bulldogs got their act together to have the last word, when Price got his second try, to give a final score of 10-38.

It was a good day all round for the Bulldogs Club, as the under 17s also had a convincing 50-10 victory over their Neath/Port Talbot counter parts.

The Firsts now look to make it 4 wins in a row, next Saturday when they host the Torfaen Tigers at Glan-yr-afon Park.