By Zippy
January 3 2007

A review of the action in the Principality Welsh Premiership from Saturday 30th December. Ponty won in front of the TV Cameras at the Arms Park but Bridgend went down at Glamorgan Wanderers. For details read on.

Cardiff 6 Pontypridd 13

By www.PontypriddRFC.co.uk - Rygbi Pontypridd - Official Website / Y Wefan Swyddogol - The Valleys' Premier Team.

Having spent far too long reading trashy newspapers, it is difficult to avoid the search for equally trashy headlines. The state of the pitch for the Cardiff game on Saturday evening immediately brought the phrase “to play ducks and drakes” to mind, but not being sure what it meant, your correspondent looked it up. It means to behave irresponsibly or recklessly, to squander one’s wealth, or to heedlessly throw away something of value. Well, that’s exactly what Cardiff did with a gale at their backs in the first half.

The weather was atrocious, with a very strong wind and driving rain blowing straight down the park. Had the game not been televised, the referee may well have decided not to play. However, Mr. James Jones was confident that it could go ahead, and he turned out to be right. Given the conditions, it was never going to be an exciting spectacle of running rugby. However, Ponty proved late in the game that it was possible to run with the ball and scored two brilliant tries to win the game.

The first half was a dour battle largely played out between the 22 metre lines. Cardiff had an early opportunity to score a try through former Pontypridd player Shaun James, but he was forced into touch inches from the line. However, early pressure from the Blue-and-Blacks allowed Craig Evans to kick two good penalties to take the home side into a worthy 6-0 lead after about ten minutes.

The rest of the half had little to write about, except perhaps for the inability of the TV commentary team to get their facts right. Throughout the game they referred to winger Gareth John as “Dan Hitchings”, and centre Gavin Dacey was called “Daley”. Too much Christmas good cheer, no doubt?

Although the wind allowed Cardiff to play much of the first half in our half of the pitch, there was no penetration from their backs and our line was rarely under real pressure. In fact, Pontypridd managed some good moves of their own, and were always trying to play attacking rugby. One such period of pressure right at the end of the half gave us a difficult penalty chance on the left and about 35 metres from the posts.

Remember that Neil Burnett was kicking directly into a very strong wind, and with the rain streaming into his face. He stepped up and hit the ball with all the mighty strength that we know his left boot can carry. Watching from behind, the ball veered well to the left of the posts, and the Cardiff supporters nearby started to bray. Then, as the wind caught the ball, it slowly started to drift to the right. Gradually it curved like a Beckham free kick, and eventually sailed neatly through the middle of the posts to make it 3-6.

The referee blew the whistle for half time immediately afterwards, and the look on the faces of the Cardiff team as they trooped off had defeat written all over it. They had played ducks and drakes with the wind at their backs, and would now have to face it for a long forty minutes.

However, it was a long and frustrating twenty-seven minutes for Pontypridd supporters that followed at the start of the second half. Our lineout had creaked all through the game, and gradually got worse. Our forwards spent far too much time playing pick-and-drive in good attacking positions, and got nowhere against a stern Cardiff defence. There were some good bits and pieces (and a spurned kickable penalty chance) in the early part of the half, but tension mounted as the clock showed 27 minutes gone.

Then our backs were give the opportunity denied them for long periods. Neil Burnett slipped a beautiful inside pass to Chris Clayton coming in off his wing, and Chris stormed through the Cardiff defensive line. Gavin Dacey was on his right calling for the ball as Chris hit the final tackler, and Gavin dived over the line for a superb try under any conditions. Neil Burnett just failed with the conversion.

Cardiff had rarely got out of their own half for the whole of the second period, and when they did Neil Burnett did what Neil does ever so well. He kicked four or five boomers from his own 22 metre area that bounced well into the opposition 22, and the returning kick into the wind always put Cardiff back under pressure. An effective lineout would probably have allowed Pontypridd to take the lead earlier.

Our second try came a few minutes after the first. Chris Clayton took the ball well in his own half, and set of on a run down the left. His speed, strength and balance took him through the defence once again, and Lee Evans was on his right to take the pass when Chris was eventually stopped. Lee was forced to the ground a few metres out, but we won the ball and Andrew Jenkins shipped it on to Neil Burnett with Cardiff defenders all around him. He jinked his way over the line for a classic stand-off’s try.

Neil again missed the conversion, but there was no way back for Cardiff now with the score at 6-13 and minutes to go. We could have got at least one more try in the final minutes, but the Cardiff lads carried on tackling until the final whistle went. It wasn’t a classic by any means, apart from the last fifteen minutes or so, but Pontypridd were worthy winners of a hard fought encounter.

Dafydd Lockyer won the man-of-the-match award from the TV people (at least they got his name right!), but much as this writer loves big Daf to bits, the award should have gone to Chris Clayton. Apart from one kick ahead which was charged down, he didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon in attack or defence. Chris is now back to the tremendous form he showed last season, and a potent weapon in our armoury.

Chris was ably supported by Daf, Gavin Dacey and Lawrence Price, Neil Burnett had another excellent match, and Andrew Jenkins at last had a chance to shine, which he grabbed with both hands. Andrew harried the Cardiff scrum halves to death, and was always a constructive link throughout. It was also good to see Jason Pocock back on the park – we need him in the battles to come. Tu Tamarua worked like a demon in all phases of the game in the pack, and all of the forwards went well. Our scrum was under a bit of pressure here and there, well tidied up by Nathan Strong, but the lineouts…!!!

Two last things before signing off. Adam Powell took a bit of stick from the Ponty fans, and didn’t have one of his better games. He must remember that Mathew Nuthall got the same treatment two seasons ago, but was welcomed back to Sardis Road with open arms a year later and went on to be one of the stars of our cup-winning side. We will welcome Adam back with the same open arms next season.

Finally, there was at least one Pontypridd supporter (allegedly) who spent most of the game slagging-off the Cardiff team, supporters, and the referee in foul and abusive language. If anyone knows who he is then let us know, and we will get Nathan Strong to have a word with him!

Cardiff	6 - 13 (6 - 3)	Pontypridd
		Tries: Dacey, Burnett
Pens: Evans 2		Pens: Burnett

Glamorgan Wanderers 15 Bridgend 3

WANDERERS president Sir Tasker Watkins admitted he had a lot to thank Bridgend for in his career but he said: "I am delighted with the Wanderers' victory. There is not a lot of room for sentiment in rugby unfortunately."

The match went ahead following a late pitch inspection after a morning downpour but Bridgend defied the conditions with a flowing move which ended with a loose pass as the Wanderers' line was begging.

Wanderers seemed at ease in the lineouts and some clean ball set up Jamie Jones for the first touchdown after 10 minutes.

The home side were coping better with the conditions but a charged down clearance led to a near miss penalty by Bridgend full back Gareth David.

Wanderers ended the first quarter on the front foot and it was no surprise that Lennie Woodard grabbed a second try.

Bridgend rallied with a bout of sustained attacking play but failed to make headway against a dogged Wanderers defence as the hailstorms returned.

In the second period Gareth MacCarthy's penalty increased the Wanderers' lead to 15 points with the Bridgend score sheet still blank.

On 65 minutes, Bridgend finally registered a score thanks to a Gareth David penalty. Both sides had their chances in the final quarter, but it was Wanderers' arms who went up in the air at the final whistle.

Glamorgan Wanderers	15 - 3 (12 - 0)	Bridgend
Tries: Jones, Woodward
Pens: McCarthy.		Pens: David
Cons: McCarthy.

Welsh Premiership table

02 January 2007   Team P W D L F A PTS 1 Ebbw Vale 16 11 2 3 325 265 35 2 Newport 16 10 2 4 413 272 32 3 Llanelli 15 10 1 4 392 263 31 4 Pontypridd 16 10 0 6 321 320 30 5 Neath 16 8 2 6 409 313 26 6 Cardiff 16 8 1 7 368 329 25 7 Bridgend 16 8 0 8 311 299 24 8 Aberavon 14 7 1 6 309 307 22 9 Bedwas 16 6 0 10 237 331 18 10 Cross Keys 14 5 2 7 265 275 17 11 Glamorgan Wanderers 16 5 1 10 327 412 16 12 Swansea 16 5 0 11 253 395 15 13 Maesteg 14 5 0 9 276 315 15 14 Llandovery 15 4 0 11 279 389 12