Prem Review - 3rd Mar
By Zippy
March 4 2007
A review of the action in the Principality Welsh Premiership from Saturday 3rd March. Ponty beat table toppers Ebbw Vale to come within striking distance and Bridgend Ravens went down to Swansea at St Helens. For details read on.
Pontypridd 31 Ebbw Vale 22
By www.PontypriddRFC.co.uk - Rygbi Pontypridd - Official Website / Y Wefan Swyddogol - The Valleys' Premier Team.
A hard fought win over table-toppers Ebbw Vale saw Pontypridd move back up to second place in the table, and narrow the gap between themselves and the leaders to four points with a game in hand. Looking at the games to come, we must, of course, beat Llanelli in the next game at Sardis Road on Friday, 16th March. Then we will have the two difficult games against Newport and Neath, both of which have still to be re-arranged. Ebbw Vale also have to go to Newport, so if we keep on winning then….
The match on Saturday started with both sides launching good attacks, but with the defences holding firm for the first ten minutes. Then we gave away a penalty under our posts which resulted in three points for Ebbw Vale, kicked by Sam Mills, and a yellow card for prop Ryan Harford. Ian Poley came on for Ryan, with Lee Evans temporarily leaving the field.
Undeterred, Ponty struck again down field, and won a five metre scrum. From the scrum we developed a ruck in front of the posts, and when the ball came out to Dai Flanagan, he neatly slipped through the visitors’ defence for a good try, which he then converted to make the score 7-3 to Pontypridd. Sam Mills and Dai Flanagan then exchanged penalties to take the scoreline to 10-6 after 25 minutes.
There was a lot of good rugby being played by both sides at this time, and a sweeping attack out of defence by Ebbw Vale almost brought them a superb try. The ball went through a dozen or more pairs of hands as it was carried right up to the Pontypridd try line. It was stopped in the end by an heroic tackle by Tu tamarua, and the home side managed to scramble the ball away. However, Ebbw Vale were soon back in our half, and yet another good penalty by Sam Mills made it 10-9 on the half hour.
For the next ten minutes leading up to half time both sides again played some excellent rugby as the game swept from end to end. A good attack by Pontypridd went from the home 22 metre line to the visitors’ 22, where we won a line out and then knocked the ball on. From the scrum Ebbw Vale struck back with a move which again threatened the home line, but the Ponty defence held firm.
It looked very much as though the score would stay at 10-9 as half time approached, but Pontypridd managed to launch one last attack. Good handling took play from the home ten metre line well into the visitors’ half, and just when it looked as though the move had broken down, along came Clayton. Chris picked up a bouncing ball and ran all of 30 metres to score a superb try. Dai Flanagan kicked the difficult conversion from the left hand touchline, and Pontypridd went in with a 17-9 lead.
The home supporters now started to relax. Our forwards were doing well, our backs had the edge (just) on the opposition, and we had the breeze behind us. Pontypridd started the second half in sparkling form, and a brilliant move with Chris Clayton again to the front took the ball well into the Ebbw Vale 22. A ruck was won, the ball was moved quickly to the left, and we had what looked like a sixteen man overlap with just five metres to go. We knocked on, and the chance was gone.
A few minutes later Tu Tamarua burst through the middle, and again carried the ball into the opposition 22. The pressure on the Ebbw Vale defence continued to build as Ponty went for a series of forward drives, and the try line was only a couple of metres away. Then we lost the ball again. A pop-up pass was intercepted, and an Ebbw Vale try was only averted by a superb chase by Chris Clayton, pulling his man down on the home 22. The Ebbw player held on, and Ponty cleared their lines with the resulting penalty.
There followed a brief period of play where Pontypridd decided to start throwing the ball around without looking where it was going. Passes were dropped, knocked on, and suicide was being committed all over the place. Eventually the critical mistake was made when yet another sloppy pass was intercepted by Kristian Owen on the half way line, and he ran easily under the posts. The conversion by Sam Mills, and a penalty a few minutes later by the same player, took Ebbw Vale into the lead by 17-19 with twenty-five minutes to go.
At this time Pontypridd was rattled. We were playing all our rugby between our own 22 metre and the half way line, and the boys and girls on the bob bank were silenced. Once more sloppy passing by the home side saw the ball bobbling about, inviting an Ebbw Vale player to hack through and chase. Lawrence Price scrambled back to cover, but gave away a penalty kicked by Sam Mills. Pontypridd was now five points down and time was slipping away. The depression on the terraces was deepened by the fact that it was our mistakes that were gifting the game to the visitors.
The minutes ticked by. Then with about ten minutes to go a quick thinking Chris Clayton took an equally quick lineout, passing the ball to Andrew Jenkins. The scrum half ran about thirty metres down the touchline, with Chris Clayton inside him. A well timed pass from Andrew, and Chris was in under the posts, celebrating with a mighty dive to ground the ball. An easy conversion by Dai Flanagan, and Ponty were back into a 24-22 lead.
The last ten minutes or so all belonged to the home side. Ebbw Vale were forced to try to run the ball out of defence, and time and time again it was lost in their own 22 metre area. Play was frenetic and sometimes frantic by the visitors, and the game rarely strayed far from their line. Chris Dicomidis, on for Lee Evans, was prominent in this phase of the game, making tackle after tackle to pin the Steelmen back. Eventually the breakdown came when a loose pass was dropped, and replacement hooker Lee Pearce picked up and ran in for a good try. The conversion by Dai Flanagan brought proceeding to an end with a deserved win for Pontypridd by 31-22. But they did make it very hard for themselves!
The forward battle was just edged by Pontypridd, with Nick Eaves doing particularly well at prop against the massive Kristian Gay. The home back row was tremendous against a very good Ebbw Vale outfit. Once again Tu Tamarua was everywhere, doing everything in defence and attack. Time and time again he drove into rucks and either ruined their ball or slowed it down (legally) so that it was little use to them. Nathan Strong and Lee Evans were never far behind, tidying up the rubbish we threw about early in the second half, and never giving an inch. For Ebbw Vale blindside flanker John Bowd continually caught the eye.
The Ebbw Vale backs were the threat we expected, quick in counter attack and resolute in defence. For Pontypridd, Chris Clayton deservedly won the man-of-the-match award for his strong running and two tries, and Dai Flanagan controlled things well at outside half for most of the game, and kicked superbly to hit all four conversions and a penalty.
However, for this writer the man who also stood out was scrum half Andrew Jenkins. Since he joined us before Christmas he has never had a bad game, and on Saturday was a real nuisance to the opposition. He harried their scrum half to death, joined Chris Clayton in making the winning try, and was always thereabouts when tackles were needed.
| Pontypridd | 31 - 22 |
Ebbw Vale | |
| Tries: Flanagan, Clayton 2, Pearce |
Tries: Owen |
||
| Pens: Flanagan |
Pens: Mills 5 |
||
| Cons: Flanagan 4 |
Cons: Mills |
Swansea 20 Bridgend 6
By http://www.swansearfc.co.uk
Swansea made light of their recent relegation fight with a superb 80-minute display against fellow Osprey feeder club Bridgend. Ospreys Academy scrum half Martin Roberts started for the Whites and thoroughly deserved his man of the match award as his lightening quick service to the backs showed why he has been touted as a future Welsh international. The whole team performed admirably and dominated throughout despite being reduced to 14 men prior to half time after hooker Ashleigh James was red carded for his part in a fight. The victory was a fourth in a row in all competitions and takes the Whites six points clear of the drop zone.
Ospreys Director of Rugby and former All White favourite Kevin Hopkins was in the crowd to witness an exciting spectacle of rugby that was originally delayed by ten minutes due to a clash of kit colours! It was actually the visitors who started the brighter with centre Gareth David successful with a third minute penalty after Swansea were offside in a maul.
A strong run by David Watts, followed by a well weighted chip into the corner by Damian Karauna nearly sent in Noel Thomas, but he was tackled short of the line and the move broke down. A massive hit by Habir Singh prevented a dangerous Bridgend attack and good forward play earned Swansea a vital clearing penalty.
A high tackle on Watts gave Swansea a penalty which Ricky Williams duly converted to tie the scores. Two minutes later, good work by Gareth David, Marvin Thomas and Roger Davies forced Ricky Williams to take the ball over his own line. Bridgend were unable to take advantage of the situation though and gave away a penalty for diving over the top.
Karauna took the home side into the lead with a superb drop goal after a quality build up involving James and Nicky Jones. Ten minutes later, a fight broke out involving the two hookers after a collapsed scrum. Andrew Joy was yellow carded, whilst James was shown the red card by referee James Jones. On the stroke of half time, Swansea were guilty of killing the ball and Gareth David put over a penalty from inside his own half.
Half-Time:- Swansea 6 Bridgend 6
The Whites retook the lead immediately after the interval through a Ricky Williams penalty after the Ravens killed the ball. A late tackle by winger Richard Radford gifted Swansea another penalty and Williams again converted, this time from out wide.
Offside by the visitors provided Williams another penalty chance but this time he was off target. A controversial decision by the touch judge who ruled Mathew Hutchings took the ball dead after an excellent Nicky Jones chase. From the resulting scrum, excellent play by Nicky Jones set up a dangerous attack but Watts fired a loose pass straight into touch.
The first try of the match came after 65 minutes after a strong run by flanker Ben Lewis took out two tacklers and freed space for a superb offload to Chris Shelmerdine who scored with ease. Williams missed the conversion.
Bridgend were lucky not to have a player sin-binned after a cynical late tackle on Karauna after he a superb piece of invention where he chipped through the defence. However, Williams made the Ravens pay with his fourth penalty of the afternoon. Excellent runs by Andrew Williams and Radford nearly grabbed the Ravens a consolation try but the winger was tackled just short of the line.
The win for Swansea takes them six points clear of the drop zone and takes their winning streak up to four. The whole team contributed to the impressive victory and if they can continue playing in that fashion then Whites fans should look forward to an exciting close to the season. Whilst survival in the league is of paramount importance, this win will ease the pressure and allow the side to concentrate on winning the Cup for the first time since the Rebel Season.
| Swansea | 20 - 6 |
Bridgend | |
| Tries: Shelmerdine |
|||
| Pens: Williams 4 |
Pens: Davies, Davies |
||
| Drops: Karauna |