Cardiff ruffled

Round-up

CARDIFF finished the day with a five-point advantage over Pontypridd at the top of the Heineken League, but they had their feathers ruffled by Newbridge after a certain amount of premature chicken-counting.

The league leaders were coasting at 22-8 until Newbridge struck back with two tries to pull back to 22-18. It took a late try from the international wing Nigel Walker to ease the pressure on them before Adrian Davies landed a final penalty to carry Cardiff to a 30-18 victory.

Pontypridd leap-frogged over Llanelli into second place with a 31-18 win over the Stradey Park side, outscoring them by three tries to two. Neil Jenkins made a typically generous contribution to their cause with three penalties, two conversions and a drop goal for a total of 16 points.

Gareth Llewellyn, the former Welsh captain, celebrated his 200th game for Neath with a try in the third minute in the 18-11 win over Swansea. Richard Jones scored a second try for Neath while Roddy Boobyer went over for Swansea, who went into an 11-8 lead early in the second half but soon lost it.

Abertillery beat Aberavon 28-11 to move off the bottom of the table with the wing Mark Williams scoring 15 points from a try, three penalties and two conversions. Treorchy slipped to the bottom of the division in Abertillery's place courtesy of a 33-17 defeat at Bridgend.

l A proposed merger between Moseley and Birmingham City Football Club has been called off because Moseley are unwilling to move. Birmingham's owner, David Sullivan, had hoped to emulate Newcastle United by taking over the local rugby club but Moseley were reluctant to sell The Reddings and share facilities at St Andrew's.