Cardiff 30 - 21 Pontypridd

Pontypridd sign off with a defeat

In front of a 3500 crowd which contained a large Ponty contingent, Pontypridd were unable to pull off a win against their city rivals. 

In the last ever Premiership game in its current form it was Cardiff who got the win largely thanks to Nicky Robinson, playing at full back who scored 17 points. In the first half Ponty had an early opportunity when Neil Jenkins' kick into open space was chased and gathered by Richard Fussell but he could not make it to the line. Cardiff then came back at Ponty and when awarded a penalty out wide, Dean Dewdney opted to take it quickly, catching out the Pontypridd defence, and running under the posts unopposed. Robinson converted to put Cardiff 7 - 0 up.

Ponty then had a long spell in the Cardiff 22 but could not break through the defence due to persistent offending from Cardiff. Brett Davey, playing his last game for Ponty said enough was enough and when Nigel Williams awarded a penalty 5 metres out, Davey got the ball, took the tap and dived over the line. Neil Jenkins converted and the scores were all even at 7 - 7.

Ponty continued to build on their attacking platform and again ended up in the Cardiff 22. After some patient build up play and some good driving from the lineout the ball was spread out wide and Shaun James was able to break through a number of Cardiff tacklers to score Ponty's second try. Jenkins again added the conversion and as half time approached Ponty held a 14 - 7 lead.

Nicky Robinson had a chance to reduce the lead with a penalty kick deep into first half injury time but his attempt failed to get near the posts and so Ponty were 7 points in front at the interval.

Injuries to Shaun James and Emyr Lewis meant that Ponty had to bring on Jason Lewis and Matthew Nuthall for the second half but Ponty knew that an early score would put them in control of the match.

Unfortunately for Ponty, Cardiff were the team who came out with the intention of scoring tries. Good passing moves freed Richard Smith to score under the posts and minutes later, Nicky Robinson capitalised when Cardiff stole the ball from Ponty and launched an attack from their own 22. Robinson converted both tries and added a penalty to put Cardiff into a 24 - 14 lead.

Cardiff again tried to improve their lead with a drop goal attempt from Nick Macloed but his attempt went wide. From the restart on the Ponty 22, Brett Davey lobbed the ball into open space allowing Matthew Nuthall to gather and offload. The ball was then passed through the hands of almost every player in the team before eventually ending up in the hands of Richard Fussell who sprinted around Dewdney to score in the corner. Neil Jenkins added his thrid conversion of the evening from out wide and Ponty were now only 3 points behind.

However, a penalty by Nicky Robinson and a drop goal from Nick Macloed put the game out of Ponty's reach with the final score 30 - 21 to Cardiff.

Overall, the game was poor and the referee did not help Ponty as he failed to spot numerous forward passes and technical errors from Cardiff but in the end Ponty had to accept defeat.

At the end of the game a Brett Davey and Duncan Bell came over to the traveling supporters to say an emotional goodbye along with several others from the Ponty team. All the best next year boys.

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