Brython Thunder won the bragging rights with a 7-0 win against Gwalia Lightning in the Welsh derby in Round 10 of the Celtic Challenge at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday afternoon.
The clash between the two sides in the cross-border league, between teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, celebrated International Women’s Day.
Both Welsh teams had already qualified for the Celtic Challenge semi-finals before kick off after Edinburgh beat Glasgow Warriors on Friday night in Glasgow.
Thunder and Lightning will travel to face Ireland to face the Irish sides in the semi-finals in Galway in two weeks. Lightning will play Clovers, while Thunder will play Wolfhounds in the play-offs.
Thunder came into this Welsh derby on the back of a four-match winning streak, while Gwalia Lightning were looking for their first win in four games.
Thunder needed a bonus-point win to move to third in the table and avoid the reigning back-to-back champions, Wolfhounds, in the semis.
But in a hard-fought and bruising clash a try by Wales backrower Branwen Metcalfe, converted by Hanna Marshall, was the difference between the sides.
There were 14 Wales Test stars on show in the Thunder and Lightning starting line-ups for the second Welsh derby of this campaign.
The home side dominated territory and possession in the opening exchanges before Wales backrower Metcalfe drove over for the try. Fly half Marshall added the conversion to make it 7-0 after 15 minutes and were well worth the early lead.
Flanker Lucy Isaac then crossed for a second try for Thunder after a mix-up in the visitor’s defence but it was ruled out by the officials.
Wing Seren Singleton was then stopped short of the line as home side launched wave after wave of attack.
Lightning then went down to 14 players when Wales lock Abbie Fleming was yellow carded for a succession of team penalties and Thunder went in 7-0 at half-time.
After the break, Gwalia started like a different team in a closely fought tussle between the Welsh rivals.
Lightning introduced club skipper Bryonie King off the bench and both sides went toe-to-toe in a physical contest but could not find the openings to add to the scoreline.
The finale saw Brython Thunder go down to 13 players due to two yellow cards for replacement Jess Rogers and wing Seren Singloton, but the home side secured the win.
