By Zippy
April 1 2007

A review of the action in the Principality Welsh Premiership from Saturday 31st March. Ponty lost to Maesteg at the Old Parish but Bridgend Ravens defeated Bedwas at the Brewery Field. For details read on.

Maesteg 21 Pontypridd 16

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

For the second week in succession we have to record a defeat for Pontypridd, and it doesn’t get any easier. Our team did not play well, and Maesteg had a very good pack of forwards and in Kevin Ellis and Luke Richards had two very experienced players who knew exactly what to do under the difficult conditions. Pontypridd never got a grip on the game, and paid the penalty for a poor forward effort and a lack of imagination and vision behind.

Although the sun shone at Maesteg at the start of the game, there was a very strong wind blowing almost directly across the park throughout. The home side generally made better use of the conditions, and once they got a 14-6 lead early in the second half Luke Richards made certain that the ball was kicked well into touch whenever it entered the Maesteg half. This was something that Pontypridd failed to do on a number of occasions, preferring our high risk strategy of running around with the ball in our own 22-metre area.

The only scoring in the first half came from penalties, three kicked by Richards and two by Neil Burnett. One of Beanie’s kicks was expertly crafted across the wind, bending like a Beckham banana through the middle of the posts. The only good moves from Pontypridd came from lock Grant Harrington, who twice broke through the defence only for the moves to be snuffed out due to a lack of support. A wag in the stand suggested that we should move one of the backs up into the pack and put Harrington in the centre! Justin Jones also once disrupted Maesteg ball and drove to within five metres of their line, but again there was no support.

The Pontypridd scrum had been in severe difficulties all through the first half, with Maesteg completely in command and generally destroying any possible foundations for our back row and half backs to exert an influence on proceedings. It got worse in the second half, and the pressure created two tries for Maesteg No. 8 Karl Hocking. On one occasion, after a long kick from Luke Richards was fumbled and eventually knocked on deep in our twenty-two, their pack pushed our scrum back for about ten metres before Hocking touched down.

A penalty by Neil Burnett meant that the score was now 21-9 with about twenty-five minutes to go, but many of the Pontypridd faithful still felt that we could win the game. However, with the scrum creaking and the lineout lacking conviction, it was hard work for Ponty. The arrival on the field of Tom Riley put some much needed penetration into our centre, substitute Lawrence Price made a few of his trademark runs, and Kristian Baller and Chris Clayton continued to strive manfully. But it was all getting us nowhere against a stern Maesteg defence.

Although substitute Nick Eaves got a late try for Pontypridd, converted by Kristian Baller, it all ended in a deserved 21-16 win for Maesteg. Someone in the bar after the game commented that Maesteg “wanted it more than us”, and certainly they bustled and niggled and battled much more energetically than Pontypridd. More importantly, they also played sensible, simple rugby.

For Pontypridd Jason Pocock defended well, Kristian Baller never gave up despite taking a few knocks along the way, and Tom Riley looked back to his top form. Grant Harrington had a good game in the backs (sorry, forwards!), and Tom Games impressed with his energy when he came on. Dylan Jones also did a few good bits and pieces in the short time he had on the field. Otherwise, it was a pretty poor day at the office.

Pontypridd were lucky that other results on the day went our way, and the League title is still a possibility. However, we will have to play a lot better if we are to challenge in the tough games to come.

Maesteg	21 - 16 (9 - 6)	Pontypridd
Tries: Hocking 2		Tries: Eaves
Pens: Richards. 3		Pens: Burnett 3
Cons: Richards.		Cons: Baller

Welsh Premiership table

01 April 2007   Team P W D L F A PTS 1 Ebbw Vale 24 14 3 7 510 470 45 2 Neath 23 14 2 7 615 424 44 3 Newport 22 14 2 6 534 384 44 4 Pontypridd 22 14 1 7 461 432 43 5 Cardiff 23 12 1 10 545 488 37 6 Llanelli 22 10 2 10 519 427 32 7 Aberavon 21 10 2 9 474 480 32 8 Bridgend 23 10 0 13 411 439 30 9 Swansea 23 10 0 13 383 515 30 10 Glamorgan Wanderers 23 9 2 12 505 554 29 11 Cross Keys 22 8 2 12 392 425 26 12 Bedwas 23 8 1 14 348 467 25 13 Maesteg 21 8 0 13 402 449 24 14 Llandovery 22 7 0 15 418 563 21

Bridgend 16 Bedwas 10

Report to follow

Bridgend	16 - 10 (3 - 10)	Bedwas
Tries: Voisey		Tries: Hill, Silcox
Pens: David, Jones 2
Cons: David