With the Divisional Championship already secured, the Gwernyfed coaching team took the opportunity to rest some weary legs for the trip to Gwent Valleys side Risca.

Success has been founded upon a strong squad backed up by a vibrant Athletic side, and those starting on this occasion showed that the formula is a winning one, delivering a seven-try, bonus-point win and a 35th league game without defeat.

Risca have not enjoyed a great season, but no side in this league has been anything other than competitive, and so it proved here, with the first exchanges suggesting that it was going to be a tight game. However, after fifteen minutes, a shortened line-out on the hosts’ 22 allowed flanker and skipper for the day Will Eckley to stand out in the centre. Kelly Davies found Geraint Powell with the throw, and when the ball reached the Glasbury farmer, he burst through tackles to go in from 25 metres.

It took another fifteen minutes for the green, white and blacks to double the lead, the score owing much to Gethin Davies, playing at outside half, who made material metreage every time Tom Griffiths delivered the ball. Two incursions created chaos in the defence, and when Davies was finally halted, he had the strength to offload to Rhodri Williams, who sauntered in from fifteen metres.

The Talgarth men secured the four-try bonus point before the break with tries from flanker Tom Millington and then Gethin Davies. The first owed much to a fine run out of defence by Tom Morgan, returning to First XV rugby after a long injury lay-off. After a scrum and ruck, with the attack lined up on the halfway line, Geraint Powell adopted the unconventional, picking up from the ruck and passing immediately to Millington, who ran in unattended from forty metres. Davies then surpassed that with a sixty-metre run, beating and avoiding tackles en route to a fourth try and simple conversion.

The travelling support expected Gwernyfed to build a cricket score upon a half in which they had almost completely dominated the home outfit. That prediction was scotched within minutes of the restart when a series of drives produced Risca’s first of what proved to be four second-half tries. The score did prompt an immediate riposte when Griffiths spread the ball from a ruck on the right wing; Gethin Davies launched a long pass to the left wing, where Geraint Powell collected well and went over in the corner.

With fresh legs, Gwernyfed will have been disappointed to concede again, with tackling in defence not quite as robust as has been the case all season. Risca sensed opportunity and, after a series of head-down efforts, finally pierced the green, white and black line to add their second try. That score was swiftly cancelled out when a move from inside the Gwernyfed half saw Tom Morgan make good ground before passing inside, inviting Dylan Skyrme to beat the home full-back – the odds-on favourite romped home under the posts.

Risca never gave in and added two more tries to earn a bonus point, sandwiching Gwernyfed’s seventh, made by a snaking run by Ryan Davies, who was brought down just short, with Geraint Powell collecting from the ruck to crash over, underlining the visitors’ superiority and extending the unbeaten run.

The coaching team will be working overtime this week, as a visit to second-placed Caerleon next Saturday offers a stern challenge, one that Joe Winfield’s side will be even more keen to surmount than is normally the case, as WRU representatives will be in attendance to present the league trophy after the game.