By The Partridges
December 9 2002

Sardis Road isn't a difficult place to find as it's nestled in the valley and the only flat bit of land in Pontypridd. We arrived on a bitterly cold evening for the 5.30pm kick-off to the warm glow of the clubhouse. This is Ponty territory and they smelled strangers in their midst.

They're a friendly bunch once you tune into their accent and coming from Cardiff it even takes me a while!

And so, to business, one change to the line-up in the programme with Carl Hogg out due to injury, Hyde, Shelley and Harder all missing - this was going to be tough. Smarting after a defeat against Neath, Ponty never take defeat lightly and so had a point to prove and boy did they prove it! The referee who was to be vital in this clash was Eric Darriere. More on him later....

With the voices of few rising against the might of the Ponty crowd, we start the second leg. A tentative start by Leeds, almost as if they were sounding out the opposition, weighing them up and seeing if this was to be the same team as last year. Someone forgot to tell Leeds that instead of thinking about it, they needed to play and to defend, but with two minutes gone Sonny Parker was over the try line.

Pontypridd gave a masterclass to the Leeds players in rolling mauls, time after time they played out this set piece. Some might say they are a one trick pony, but it seems this is their best way of gaining territory, and it certainly worked on Saturday night. Leeds did play some attractive rugby once the ball was in hand, they ran the ball out wide, Ross ever there to kick the ball up-field if not to find touch, but to drive Ponty back a few metres.

Now then - the referee. To be fair, neither side were enamoured by the ref. This ref’s particular favourite rule was not releasing after the tackle, even if the player obviously didn’t have the ball, or the tackler laying on top of the player and ball until his team mates arrived (Ponty no 7 Parks being a master at this particular piece of play). Ponton came a cropper with that one. He’d been tackled and had barely touched the floor before the ref whistled for not releasing - the irony being that the Ponty player had gathered the ball from Ponton in the tackle - but no says the ref, he hadn’t released.

There were a catalogue of errors and inconsistencies made by the ref and his selective vision of the rules didn’t help Leeds’ cause. If the ref isn’t picking up on players not rolling away after tackles, pushing early in the scrum, diving into rucks, there is little any team can do. However, it wasn’t all down to the ref that Leeds had a poor game, although one Leeds fan rated Dave Pearson a better ref!!

To say the scrum was a shambles would be a bit of an understatement. There’s no doubt, O’Keefe struggled with the scrum, the binding, his Ponty opposite - the whole damn lot. But, poor old Matt Holt, who hadn’t even warmed up, must have wondered what on earth was happening that he deserved to be sent off less that 2 minutes from coming on the pitch, even Mefin Davies the Ponty Captain tried explaining to the ref - "He’s only just come on, it’s his first scrum!"

So, what went well? Without a doubt, Ponty's rolling mauls are a credit to them, especially from 10 metres out. They have an organised pack, they play like a team, their support work is excellent and they give a good performance. The stars that shine out from their team and dominated the game on Saturday night were Sonny Parker, Duncan Bell, who kindly ‘advised’ the ref on the decision to make when again Leeds were adjudged to not have released, despite Van Straaten being tackled after taking a high ball and then being jumped on by a number of Ponty players, Brett Davey, Emyr Lewis and Ceri Sweeney. My man of the match for Pontypridd would be Brett Davey.

And to Leeds. The score reflected how we played, we simply didn’t get enough ball and when we did we once again turned over the ball too easily. We did however tackle excellently, holding up the ball on the try line on no less than three occasions and defending well when it mattered. Our line out worked well, especially when Tom Palmer came on in the second half. Our best phase of play was in the last ten minutes, we played like a team, looked capable of pulling something out of the bag even, but it just wasn’t to be. The injury to Braam looked a shocker, but as he was carried off on a stretcher, with the crowd respectfully applauding, but it seems the news isn’t as bad as we’d feared.

There were those who played well for Leeds - Regan was a credit as was Ponton, Palmer and Mather. Feaunati played excellently with two tries which stunned the crowd and the Ponty players. Expecting the ref to call a halt to a wheeling scrum, the Ponty players stood back for the whistle which never came, allowing Isaac to score (up to this point the Ponty fans thought the ref was excellent - how quickly they changed their minds!). Those players we missed were without a doubt Shelley, Harder and Hyde would also have been a real asset. My man of the match therefore for Leeds would be Isaac Feaunati.

And so to next week. It seems Ponty will be deserted if as many turn up as predicted. Their crowd are ferocious in their support, they are passionate, loud and can at times be quite intimidating. Their pack will without doubt be looking to do the double, Leeds will lick their wounds for today, but will be back with fighting spirit tomorrow. [ED: Surely next week?!]