AT 1.54pm on Saturday referee Rhys Jones blew for full-time at the Ynysydarren Ground and Cross Keys celebrated four hard-earned points. It’s uncertain when they will next have the chance to add to their Specsavers National Championship tally.

During the first half of the fixture in Ystalyfera it was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union that the community game was to go into shutdown at 6pm until at least March 30 because of coronavirus.

The Keys game sneaked in – this was no mass gathering – and Morgan Stoddart’s side continued their fine form and rise up the table.

Wales’ Six Nations fixture against Scotland was postponed on Friday but this rescheduled league fixture got the green light, with a small gang of kilted Scots taking in one of the UK’s few sporting occasions.

South Wales Argus:

Now it’s a waiting game for clubs from the Premiership down for news from the WRU about what the outbreak will mean to their league tables.

It is a nightmare with question marks about titles, promotions and relegations.

Championship title rivals Pontypool and Bargoed have 10 games left to play. Will they be able to fit them in if the suspension, as looks likely, carries on into April and beyond?

Before Christmas it looked like Keys’ campaign would go to the wire but Saturday’s win means they won’t need any help in avoiding relegation.

The 13-0 success lifted them to seventh, a whopping 19 points clear of the drop zone.

Keys, who have won seven of their last 10, were pleased to have got the job done against bottom of the table Ystalyfera after squeezing the fixture in.

South Wales Argus:

“It wasn’t really business as usual because there was a little bit of doubt about whether the game would go ahead,” said head coach Stoddart.

“We were happy to play as long as the WRU didn’t pull it and who knows, that could be the last game of the season.

“I can’t see too much being done in two weeks and imagine that will probably be extended. It’s going to be hard to fit in nine or ten games this season, so there has to be a chance that it will be knocked on the head.”

Keys met at Pandy Park, the coach left at 9.15am and they arrived to find testing conditions ahead of the midday kick-off.

A heavy pitch meant that there was real peril of the game being scoreless and it wasn’t until the 70th minute that Keys opened their account through the boot of fly-half Curtis Povey.

South Wales Argus:

His penalty miss from the tee in the opening exchanges meant that the sides were level for most of the game, although the Gwent side bossed territory.

Chances were at a premium on a bog of a pitch with Keys’ best opening of the first half stopped when Bridgend official Jones deemed there had been crossing to allow centre Adam Tetley to charge into the 22.

Ystalyfera missed a long-range penalty deep into first-half injury time and the hosts spent the rest of the game pinned in their own half, playing into a stiff breeze.

Yet it took Keys until the 70th minute to break the deadlock when a stolen lineout allowed full-back Lewis Allwood to break into the 22 and then Povey punished a breakdown offence.

Another penalty followed in the 76th minute and plucky Ystalyfera were denied their losing bonus eight minutes into injury time.

Keys piled on the pressure through their scrum and Mr Jones marched under the posts.

It wasn’t pretty but the Pandy Park side, who had to rebuild almost from scratch after last season’s relegation, deserved their win.

Now the WRU’s men in suits, after advice from medical experts, will decide when they next get the chance to do it all over again.

- On Friday night Blaenavon beat Monmouth 49-15 and Penallta edged out Pontypool United 21-19 in Division One East.

Caldicot beat leaders Talywain 20-10 in Two East.

In Three East A RTB Ebbw Vale lost 13-12 at home to Rhymney and Fleur De Lys hammered Hafodyrynys 56-7 in Three East B.