Extra agony for cup heroes Tonmawr

Feb 18 2008 by Simon Thomas, Western Mail

CUP valiants Tonmawr have suffered further heartache by being denied entry to the Premiership, writes Simon Thomas.

The west Glamorgan club came close to causing a huge upset on Saturday when they led Neath 20-10 in the fifth round of the Konica Minolta Cup only to draw 20-20 and go out on try count.

Now they have endured another blow by failing in their bid to meet the WRU’s criteria for entry into the Premiership.

Tonmawr, situated in the Neath-Port Talbot district, are favourites to win Division One West as they lead Carmarthen Quins by a point with two games in hand. But their hopes of going up have been dashed, as have those of the Quins, who have also failed the WRU’s qualification test.

In fact, no team from Division One West has received the thumbs up.

The original plan was that the winners of Division One East and West would meet in an end-of-season play-off to replace the bottom club in the Premiership.

But now there will be no play-off, with the champions of One East going up automatically provided they meet the criteria.

The leaders of that division, Pontypool, have passed the test, along with third-placed Caerphilly, Newbridge and reigning champions Beddau, who were controversially denied promotion on grounds of facilities last year. Second-placed Bargoed did not apply, so if they win the league, no team will go up and the bottom side in the Premiership will be spared.