North Wales Crusaders sealed their place in the Welsh Grand Final with a 58-24 win over Cardiff Blue Dragons.
Cardiff needed a big win to stay in contention for the Grand Final, and with Lee Sargent, their only Welsh international, out of the side, the encounter was even tougher for them.
Martin Turner went over for the first try in under three minutes, converting it himself, to set the pace. He scored 12 of Crusaders’ first 16 points, with Ffion McCabe adding the second try.
It was 16-0 before Libbie Sargent scored Cardiff’s first try on 16 minutes with a fine show of pace. Daniel Martin converted.
Martin Turner soon completed his hat-trick, his son Matthew Turner converting, but Cardiff fought back well through unconverted tries from substitutes Thomas James and Tomos Parker, to put the score at 22-14 at the break.
Harry Mitchell-Jones went over in under a minute of the second half to extend Crusaders’ lead, converted by Sophie Bamford, who then added a try of her own.
McCabe scored the next with Bamford converting, with a Matthew Turner try and goal quickly following. Libbie Sargent scored a try back, but Bamford addressed the balance from kick-off with her second try. Matthew Turner converted to bring up the 50, before scoring two further tries himself.
A Poppy Cayton consolation try, improved by James, concluded the game.
Torfaen Tigers, already assured of a final place, easily overcame Swinton St George, winning 50-18.
The league’s top try scorer, Jamie Reynolds, went in for his 20th of the season, to open Torfaen’s account in the second minute. He soon added another try, that he improved himself.
It took until the 18th minute for Torfaen to score their third of the game, that came through Scott Trigg-Turner with Reynolds converted before adding two more tries, converting the second of them.
That made the score 26-0, but Swindon pulled it back to 26-12 by the break, thanks to two tries from Jess Booth, both converted by fellow Crusaders loan player Martin Turner.
The second half saw tries from Jamie Reynolds, Jason Reynolds, Leighton Morris, Dane Oram and Trigg-Turner, with two further goals from Jamie Reynolds.
Brogan Evans scored a consolation try for Swindon near the end, with Andy Houghton converting.
