By Webmaster
October 19 2002

Pontypridd continued their good run of form with a superb 83-8 win over Italian side Roma. Scoring 13 tries, the result never looked in any doubt. For a full match report read on.

Pontypridd Demolish Roma

Pontypridd 83 - 8 Roma

Aggregate Score (143 - 26)

   Pontypridd continued their superb run of seven wins in a row by demolishing Italian part timers Roma at Sardis Road. They managed to run in an impressive 13 tries which will surely give them loads of confidence for their next match against Cardiff.

    Ponty started brightly with a try inside the first 5 minutes by man of the match Geraint Lewis. Sweeney, not an experienced goal kicker missed the touchline conversion as Ponty held a 5 - 0 lead. Roma responded with a penalty and then a few minutes later they bagged their only try of the match thanks to a bit of quick thinking from their winger who took a quick throw in before exchanging passes and sprinting over the line. The try was unconverted and so Roma went into an 8 - 5 lead. 

    It wasn't long before Ponty showed them what they can do and in a twenty minute period in the first half there were tries from Michael Owen, Ceri Sweeney and two for Gareth Wyatt. The pick of them being Wyatt's first where Ceri Sweeney put in a superb cross field kick which Wyatt caught and sprinted over the line. This put Ponty in a comfortable position, leading the match 29 - 8

    But the demolition job wasn't finished there and before half time Geraint Lewis had time to run through the defence and under the posts for his second try of the match leaving the half time score at 36 - 8 in Ponty's favour.

    Within minutes of the second half restart Ponty found themselves continuing where they left off thanks to some good work by the backs which put Matthew Nuttall into space and then sprinting over from 30 metres. Shaun James then added his name to the score sheet with an impressive break through the Roma defence to bring up the 50 point mark for Ponty.

    Minutes later, Geraint Lewis completed a well deserved hat trick thanks to some good work from his forwards. As the second half continued, Ponty continued to keep the score board ticking over with two tries from wing Emyr Lewis and a further two for Ponty's other wing, Gareth Wyatt before Wyatt slotted over the conversion of his final try to make the score 83 - 8 to Ponty. 

    The only bad thing about the match was the sin binning of outside half, Ceri Sweeney for fighting with Roma prop Mirko Russo five minutes from the end. In this match it didn't matter but in future matches which may not be as one sided as this a sin binning near the end could be the difference between winning and losing a close encounter. 

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Score Summary

Tries: Wyatt(4), G Lewis(3), E Lewis(2), Sweeney, Nuttall, Owen, James

Cons: Sweeney (8), Wyatt

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Pontypridd team

Nuttall, Wyatt, J Lewis, James, E Lewis, Sweeney, John, G Jenkins, Rees, Hennessy, Cockbain, Sidoli, Parks, G Lewis, Owen.

Subs used: Cronk, McIntosh, O'Connor, Baber.