Prem Review - 28th Oct
By Zippy
October 29 2006
A review of the action in the Principality Welsh Premiership from Saturday 28th October. Bridgend won at home against Swansea but Ponty lost away at Ebbw Vale.
Bridgend 27 Swansea 0
Wales on Sunday
BRIDGEND condemned the whitewashed All Whites to their sixth Premiership defeat in seven games.
This was 10th against 11th in the table - but in the end the difference in the two sides was there for all to see as Bridgend cut loose after leading 7-0 at the interval.
It leaves Swansea stranded towards the wrong end of the Principality pile, having registered just one try in their last three outings.
Chris Tossell celebrates his 21st birthday on Bonfire Night and he certainly launched a rocket into Swansea securing what was to be the only score of the first half.
Almost out of nothing Tossell was put away from a line-out by scrum-half Brendan Roach 30 metres out, and the hard-running centre skipped round two tackles to make it to the line.
It was a score which was very much the stand-out moment of a dour first half which reflected the damp, misty conditions.
Swansea, who put Ricky Williams in at outside-half in a bid to ease a run of five defeats in six, enjoyed plenty of territory in the latter stages of the first half with scrum-half Darren Pittard in lively mood.
Twice during the first period the two packs clashed, with punches flying in as referee David Bodilly did his best to keep order.
But after the break Bridgend upped their performance levels and began to stamp their authority, grabbing three unconverted tries in the final quarter.
Swansea were not helped by the fact that they had flanker Habir Singh sin-binned for pulling down a maul which resulted in Gareth David putting over a penalty goal after 50 minutes.
Sandwiched between two long-range Roger Davies tries was one by 35-year-old Paul Williams - partnered at half-back by fellow veteran Roach - created by a clever break down the left touchline by David.
| Bridgend | 27 - 0 (7 - 0) |
Swansea | |
| Tries: Tossell, Davies 2, Williams |
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| Pens: David |
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| Cons: David |
Ebbw Vale 23 Pontypridd 13
By www.PontypriddRFC.co.uk - Rygbi Pontypridd - Official Website / Y Wefan Swyddogol - The Valleys' Premier Team.
Pontypridd went to Ebbw Vale on Saturday with a strong side and high hopes. Unfortunately they came away with another defeat in a game that was best quickly forgotten.
It is a reflection on the quality of the match that the only memorable moment was a dummy run by one of Ebbw Vale’s Michelin Men props. This large young gentleman came thundering in after the Steelmen won a ruck near our line, and ran straight into the goal post! The post bent like a fly-fishing rod, and both posts then continued to reverberate for about a minute afterwards. A good thing that Ebbw didn’t score, as the conversion would have to have been delayed until the wobbling ended. The portly prop also wobbled, but seemed none the worse for the experience.
The game went something like this. Ponty spent a bit of time in the Ebbw Vale half early on and came away with a penalty by Jason Pocock. Then Ebbw Vale put a bit of pressure on the Ponty line, and came away with a penalty by Stuart Mills. Stuart Williams got a short-range try for Ponty after a series of rucks on the Ebbw Vale line, well converted by Jason Pocock. The Steelmen then got a short-range try from a rolling maul by hooker Richard Wilkes, and the conversion and another penalty by Mills put them 13-10 up at half-time.
Pocock and Stuart Mills exchanged penalties fairly early in the second half to make it 16-13, and then not much else happened until the last ten minutes. We failed to clear our lines when a relieving kick missed touch, and from the resulting counterattack the Ebbw Vale full back, Andrew McLaughlan, waltzed over for a try in the corner. A good conversion by Mills made it 23-13, and it was the end of the sports for Ponty.
In between the few flurries of action, two pretty average sides battled it out in the middle of the park. Despite Ebbw’s Michelin Men props, who helped to put some early pressure on our scrum, the Ponty forwards did reasonably well. Our lineout was OK, usually securing our own ball, and in the loose we more or less matched the opposing eight. Tu Tamarua stood out as ‘battler-in-chief’ in the forwards.
Unfortunately, we had little penetration behind the scrum. Poor catching, poor passing, and poor kicking resulted in many attacks breaking down without really threatening the Ebbw Vale line. Chris Clayton went close once, but too often passes failed to find their target or were dropped when they got there. Perhaps the greatest weakness was the failure to use the boot to clear our lines. We fiddled about on our 22 metre line, and often got caught out.
This was another game that was there for the winning, and at 16-13 most of the Ponty faithful were still convinced that we would win it. It was not to be.
| Ebbw Vale | 23 - 13 (13 - 10) |
Pontypridd | |
| Tries: Wilkes, McLoughlin |
Tries: Williams |
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| Pens: Mills 3 |
Pens: Pocock 2 |
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| Cons: Mills 2 |
Cons: Pocock |