By Webmaster
April 21 2003

On a cold night in Athlone, Pontypridd and Conancht met in the first leg of their Parker Pen Cup quarter final. Pontypridd managed to get a slight advantage of 5 points but will it be enough of a lead as the sides meet again next weekend? For a full match report read on...

Connacht 30 - 35 Pontypridd

    Pontypridd came away from Athlone with only a 5 point lead despite scoring four excellent tries against a Connacht province that may be in its last season as a provincial team. The lead could have been greater had there not been two late tries scored by Wayne Munn but the main thing is Ponty won and have something to build on at Sardis Road next weekend.

    The game started disastrously for Ponty, conceding a penalty after only 20 seconds which Eric Elwood struck between the posts to give Connacht a 3 - 0 lead. Then 20 minutes and a penalty miss for each side later, Brett Davey gathered a loose ball in his own 22 and went on a darting run upfield. He managed to offload to Bryant who in turn passed to Sweeney, who unselfishly gave the try scoring pass to Emyr Lewis. The try was converted by Davey to give Ponty a 7 - 3 lead.

    However things looked to be going against Pontypridd when both Sonny Parker and Jonny Bryant both had to be replaced due to injury. Neil Jenkins slotted in at outside half and a previously untried partnership of Shaun James and Ceri Sweeney filled the gap in the centre. It wasn't long before Jenkins got on the score sheet with a penalty putting Ponty in a 10 - 3 lead.

    Unlike in the last match between the two sides where Ponty won 40 - 0, the Irish responded with tries from number eight, Colm Rigney and second row, Rowan Frost which could have given them a healthy lead had it not been for the boot of Jenkins which pulled Ponty back to 17 - 13 down at half time.

    In the opening minutes of the second half, Shaun James was on hand to receive a long pass from Jenkins and race through a number of Connacht players in the 22 to touch down in the corner. Jenkins missed the conversion but made amends for it minutes later with a penalty which cancelled out an effort from Elwood and put the visitors into a 21 - 20 lead.

    Immediately from the restart Ponty responded again. A loose ball was kicked on by Geraint Lewis who gathered at half way, fed the ball to Paul John who in turn passed to Mefin Davies who charged upfield into the Connacht 22 before delivering the pass back out to Geraint Lewis who touched down in the corner. The conversion from Jenkins was good and Ponty were building up a healthy lead to take back to Sardis Road.

    The lead got even bigger moments later when Gareth Wyatt turned bad ball into good as he darted through Ponty and Connacht players in the 22 to place the ball down under the posts leaving Jenkins with a simple conversion.

    Ponty were now leading 35 - 20 but two late tries from Connacht winger Wayne Munn reduced the advantage to only five points as both sides meet again in Sardis Road next weekend.

    Overall, Ponty have completed the first part of their task by winning in Ireland but will need a good performance next weekend to progress to the semi finals of the Parker Pen Cup. However, they will probably go into the match without Parker and Bryant meaning Lynn Howells has a difficult decision to make on who to choose in the centre - will he go for the impressive partnership of Sweeney and James or will he select James along with Jason Lewis?

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Teams

Connacht

M McHugh; G Duffy, D Yapp, S Moore (capt.), W Munn; E Elwood, E Reddan; R MCormack, J Flannery, P Bracken, D Browne, R Frost, M Swift, C Rigney, J O'Connor.
Subs: D McFarland, M Uijs, E Peters, J Muldoon, C Keane, M McPhail, J Norton.

Pontypridd

 B Davey; G Wyatt, S Parker, J Bryant, E Lewis; C Sweeney, P John; G Jenkins, M Davies (capt), D Bell, B Cockbain, R Sidoli, M Owen, R Parks, G Lewis.
Subs: N Jenkins, G Baber, S James, S Cronk, M Rees, N Kelly, W O'Connor.