Iconic Welsh rugby club thrashed 104-0 by rivals but fans proud of team
Iconic Welsh rugby club thrashed 104-0 by rivals but fans proud of team
It came a huge shock with Neath third place in the league.
Merthyr celebrate winning the Welsh Premiership
(Image: Merthyr RFC )
Neath lost 104-0 to Merthyr in a shocking result that has made Welsh rugby fans check the scores twice.
The Ironmen bagged 16 tries in the top of the table clash, with the huge victory coming one week after they secured the Welsh Premiership title.
Merthyr were presented with the league trophy at The Wern, and marked the occasion with a relentless barrage of tries against a severely fatigued outfit who had played three games in a seven-day window and changed half their team from the previous match.
The home side did not pull any punches though, and were 66-0 up at half time. They would go on to score another six tries in the second half to make matters worse for Neath.
Adam Hoskins got himself four tries with teammate Dafydd Thomas securing a hat-trick with Ben Jones kicking 11 conversions. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
This game came just 72 hours after Neath had played Pontypridd in a 34-33 thriller at Sardis Road, which they narrowly lost. It officially confirmed Pontypridd would finish second, not Neath, who ended the season third.
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While there are still five games to play this week, that devastating result against Merthyr marked the end of Neath's season. Despite this, there's no chance of Bargoed pipping them to third when they Pontypridd this weekend, with the Welsh All Blacks 10 points clear in third place.
Fans on social media were shocked by the result but understood the wider context of a difficult week that ended with the freak scoreline, with one of the best teams in the division being thrashed by over a century of points.
Neath Supporters Club said: "This is one game out of a very long hard season. Please don't judge on just one scoreline. This came after very physical games against Bonymaen and Pontypridd. Three games in seven days. Don't forget we don't get any support from our region. So it's a very tough ask for our squad."
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One Merthyr supporter said: "You nearly beat Pontypridd on their home pitch, you came third in a league where there are no easy games.
"Yesterday was one match too many given the time it takes to recover from playing a hard, physical game like rugby. You did your best and played until the end trying to score and you didn't resort to old school rugby - putting in cheap shots - all the best next season."
Another wrote: "Not a scoreline Neath will be proud of one bit, but credit to all the players, staff, supporters, who must be hurting at the moment. But third in a very tough league is a great achievement, congratulations on a great season to all involved at Neath RFC."
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