Despite a spirited performance Newcastle Emlyn of the Championship were outclassed by Premiership high-flyers Ebbw Vale who marched into the quarter-final of the Swalec Cup with a 67-u win in a nine-try romp in the Teifi Valley.

It was the heaviest defeat for the Red and Whites on their Ddol Wyber stamping ground since local rivals Cardigan emerged 50-0 winners in the 1990’s.

Emlyn could not be faulted for effort and put bodies on the line in a brave rearguard action but the Premiership giants, who left lock and skipper Damien Hudd and outside half Dai Langdon on the bench, were miles ahead in virtually every department.

The only previous occasion for the Steelmen to visit the area was in a seventh round Welsh Cup game in February 1997 when they were again victorious.

As the powerful Ebbw pack drove forward from the word go the Steelmen racked up 26 points in the opening 40 minutes and added a further 35 points during the second period even though it appeared the foot had been taken off the pedal.

During the first half No 8 Ethan Doyle, prop Luke Crocker and backs Adam Jones and Dai Jones crossed for tries with outside half Iain Smerdon landing three conversions

After the break forward dominance and pace behind the scrum led to further tries via flanker Rob Sevenoaks, fullback Dan Haymond, prop Luke Crocker while Doyle got a second score.

The biggest cheer of the game came when a good Emlyn move culminated in scrum-half Mike Jones sprinting 40 yards for a brilliant try converted by winger Daniel Davies.

Ebbw are at home against fellow Premiership club Llandovery in the last eight.

There were sighs of relief among Cardigan players, officials and supporters after getting out of jail in the dying seconds at the Athletic Ground in Neyland where the visitors sprang a 9-8 win.

The Pembrokeshire All Blacks appeared to be heading for victory but Cardigan outside half Llyr Tobias, who earlier landed two penalties, completed a hat-trick that broke Neyland hearts.

A failure by Llyr Griffiths and colleagues to pick up a bonus point against the mid table side has given them more of a difficult task to overtake Division 3 West A leaders Haverfordwest.

Tobias landed an early penalty but fluffed two further opportunities before Mark Riley pulled the All Blacks level with a successful kick

The Cardigan kicker landed a second penalty early in the second half but Neyland responded with a series of attacking ploys culminating in centre Patrick Bellerby going over for a try which appeared to have given his side victory before the late drama.