BECAUSE of cup commitments, only bottom-placed Fleur-de-Lys were in Asda League Division One action - although their horrendous season continued when they conceded nine tries in a 60-12 away defeat at the hands of the students of UWIC, writes Terry Daley.

However, of those nine touchdowns, five were breakaway scores after the break while the Gwent side was on the offensive in the home side's 22.

"What made this defeat even more frustrating was the fact we were only 15-12 down at half-time and in with a great shout," revealed Flower secretary Alan Evans.

"But virtually every time we looked likely to do something positive going forward in the second half, they gained possession and stormed up the field to score."

Flower's points came from tries by Danny Cooke and Gerwyn Llandrygan and a conversion via Brett Green as they slipped to a 12th successive league reverse.

The match marked the half-way point of the season for the club, and although relegation looks a formality, Evans revealed the club is already plotting first-time promotion.

"Yes, relegation is a possibility and it'll be such a shame because we've had four seasons now in Division One and it'll be a shame to chuck it away," continued Evans.

"But if we do go down, hopefully we will be able to get straight back up. We've very good coaches in David Roberts and Kristian Wills, who only came on board in December.

"But they've shown a good approach to the game and there remains a bright future for this club."

In Division Two East there was more misery for the two Gwent clubs who are in the three-strong relegation zone - Newport HSOB and Pill Harriers.

The Old Boys remain second from the bottom after going down 28-22 at Rhydfelin, while immediately below them Pill slipped to a 13th successive defeat since the beginning of the season in losing 44-15 at home to leaders Penallta.

In a see-saw battle, Old Boys crossed for tries from scrum- half Andrew Screen (2), wing forward Pat Brunnock and centre Gareth Hillier, with outside- half Will Edwards landing a conversion.

"We were camped on their line for the game's last five minutes, but we simply couldn't find a way over," said Old Boys team manager Kevin Morgan.

Although it was his side's eighth defeat in 11 league matches, Morgan believes his side has what it takes to avoid the drop.

"We're actually playing well and have been a little unfortunate to lose narrowly to strong sides such as Abercynon 33-30 and now Rhydyfelin 28-22," he continued.

"The good thing about those defeats is that we picked up four bonus points, which in effect is akin to winning a game.

"It means we are now only a point behind both Tredegar and Builth Wells and they are very much in our sights.

"Our next three games - at home to Pill, away to Llanishen and at home to Tredegar - are all now extremely crucial to our survival bid."

In Pill's defeat, flanker Dave Tovey, centre Chris Lloyd and winger Luke Williams scored five-pointers.

In Division Three East, Abergavenny continue to lead the way over Garndiffaith and Brynmawr as tries from Tom McPherson (2), Stuart Davies (2), Paul Cornock and Owen Stephens helped them to record a 41-10 home win over Rhymney.

There was an extremely rare occurrence in the relegation zone - victories for the bottom two, Pontllanfraith and Senghenydd.

One-from-the-bottom Pontllanfraith earned only their second success in 11 league starts by defeating visiting Pontypool United 8-6, while New Tredegar became the first team in 12 games to lose to basement outfit Senghenydd - 13-6 at home.

Second-placed Abertillery BG scored a try through Aled Penn, but fell further behind Division Four East leaders Gwernyfed when they were beaten 16-15 at home by them.

Abertillery now trail by 11 points and have only one match in hand over the table-toppers with just 10 remaining.

At the bottom, Talywain came very close to recording a rare win before eventually going down to a 12-10 home defeat at the hands of fourth-placed Rhiwbina.

There was a change of the leadership in Division Five East after Blaenavon swapped places with Caldicot.

Blaenavon reached the summit following a 38-5 home victory over bottom-placed RTB Ebbw Vale, while Caldicot went down to a 17-9 defeat away at mid-table Bettws.

In Division Six East, table-topping Caerleon saw their scheduled game at Markham postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, with second-placed Blackwood Stars taking advantage to move close by thumping New Panteg 27-0 at home.

However, nothing much changes for rock-bottom Whiteheads, whose 22-5 home loss against St Julian's was their eighth straight defeat since the start of the campaign.

l Tredegar's planned friendly at Newbridge on Saturday was postponed by the Welfare Ground outfit.

However, Tredegar have announced they've provisionally arranged a similar match at home to Pontypridd on Friday, kick-off 7.15pm.

Tredegar will also host Pontypool in a friendly tomorrow night, kick-off 7.15pm.