Soaking up a Ton of pressure

Pontypool travelled to the wide open spaces of Pandy Park to take on Tondu in the Welsh Championship. The conditions were perfect in contrast to the gale force wind encountered in the corresponding fixture last season, Then Pooler were well beaten as they failed to master the conditions. We hoped that they could turn the tables this time.

The first quarter was very scrappy although the away side were on top in terms of territory. The pacy Pooler backs looked like they had the beating of their counterparts but too much possession was kicked away. The scrum came under pressure from a beefy home front row that put the ton in Tondu but the lineout was a reliable source of possession. At the breakdown, Tondu competed hard but not always to the satisfaction of the referee. Pontypool missed two relatively easy penalty attempts at goal from such transgressions before the referee lost his patience and sent one of the Tondu props to the sin bin.

The away side seized the initiative and Hancock broke the deadlock with a well-taken drop goal. Soon after Tondu turned the ball over in the Pontypool 22 and Quick saw that a counter attack was on. He broke to halfway before Norton showed his power and pace to beat the Tondu defence. The successful conversion opened up a 0-10 lead.  The home side lost focus and failed to deal with the kick off which ultimately led to a Tondu penalty to close the gap to 3-10. Pontypool hit back and Parry scored from a driving lineout. The score at half time was 3-17 with the away side good value for their lead.

The second half started well for Pooler and a searing break by Thorley was finished off by Brooks who scored in the corner. At 3-22 the lead looked comfortable and one more try would give the away side a bonus point.

Tondu had other ideas, however, and fought back ferociously showing plenty of pride and passion. They hammered away at the Pooler line and something had to give. The first thing that was given was a yellow card to Nash after Pooler had given away too many penalties. This made Tondu step up the pressure even more and they scored their first try soon after. The momentum had most definitely swung their way and they scored again and with a conversion from wide out had closed the gap to 17-22. This was getting too close for comfort!

The last part of the match was nail-biting stuff for the team and supporters alike as Tondu threw the kitchen sink at Pooler. Despite a few nervous moments, the defence, with Nash prominent, managed to hold firm. The final whistle was music to our ears.

Make no mistake this was a stern test for Pontypool and they just about managed to pass. It’s hard-earned victories like this that brings a team together. There is still work to do but this is another step forward.

In regional rugby, the season has not started at all well for the Dragons and the Blues. I should think that they are both heartily fed up of things Scottish with both suffering at the hands of Glasgow. The British and Irish Lions’ management, however, must be relieved that Scotland voted no as the name of the team looked for a moment to be likely to grow and grow.

The other good news for Pontypool fans was the granting of the A Licence for the club by the WRU. His means we are eligible for promotion. Now all we have to do is earn it on the field. Come on Pooler!  

The green, green grass of home

Pontypool had returned home with their tails between their legs after a hiding at Bargoed last week. We all hoped for a much improved performance in their first home league match against Llanharan. One thing for certain was the grass was greener in Pontypool Park than at Bargoed. The pitch was covered in a luxuriant growth that was so long that you couldn’t see the touch line from the Bank. In golfing parlance it looked more like the rough than the fairway.

The initial quarter of the game was played in fits and starts with neither side being able to find any fluency. If anything Llanharan had the better of the opening exchanges but failed to capitalise on having the edge in field position and possession. Both sides had lost their opening league fixture and seemed to be lacking in confidence and the error count was high.

Rather against the run of play Pooler sprang into life and scored the opening try with forwards and backs combining well for Thorley to score. The conversion was successful and it was quickly followed by a Hancock penalty to open up a 10-0 lead. The home side grew in confidence and a further tries looked likely as the backs started to show their pace. Unfortunately all the momentum was lost by what looked to be a serious knee injury to Dykhoff and a lengthy delay while he was stretchered off the field. We wish him well and hope that the injury is not as bad as it looked.

Llanharan seized the initiative and took advantage of some pretty ineffective tackling to score an unconverted try. An exchange of penalty goals left the half time score at 13-8. Pontypool would be playing down the slope in the second half and, if they could recapture their momentum, they seemed to be favourites to take the spoils.

Pontypool started the second half with much more energy and had clearly decided to try and increase the pace of the game. This quickly reaped its rewards with two converted tries by Thorley and Thomas which opened up a 27-8 lead which looked to be unassailable.  In truth, the home side should have scored more tries in this period but for a few passes that went astray or were slightly forward.

To their credit Llanharan went on the attack and were camped in the Pontypool 22 for a lengthy period. They seemed to lack a cutting edge and turned the ball over on a number of occasions when close to the Pontypool try line. The home side tried to capitalise on the turn-overs by running the ball but, to the frustration of the crowd, were repeatedly penalised for holding on to the ball or being off their feet at the break down whenever they were starting to make progress. All the Llanharan pressure eventually told and they scored an unconverted try to make the score 27- 13.

Pontypool went in search of their fourth try and in the dying moments Brooks crossed in the corner after an excellent passage of play. Hancock’s conversion hit the post but didn’t go over leaving the final score 32-13 with Pontypool collecting a bonus point.

This was a much better performance from Pontypool and demonstrated that with enough possession and quick ball from the breakdown that they can be a force to be reckoned with. Yes of course there were plenty of those early season errors and lots of things to work on but this was encouraging. The halfbacks Quick and Hancock controlled the game well and the combative Nash added much needed go forward to the pack. There are of course tougher challenges ahead and that starts with the visit to Tondu next week.

I watched the Dragons v the Ospreys on the TV on Friday evening. What could have been a good game was marred by the untidiness of the scrums. Even Nigel Owens couldn’t seem to make them work despite brandishing his yellow card. The Ospreys were the better side but the Dragons could have pipped them if a late dropped goal attempt hadn’t of sailed wide. The most positive thing to come out of the game was Eli Walker looking fit and sharp again. Now this is the kind of player that should be given a WRU central contract.

Talking of money, I was aghast to see the prices of the tickets for the next Rugby World Cup. More than £200 to watch a group match - “they’re ‘aving a larff” as they say in London. The tickets are obviously not aimed at the grass roots rugby fan. I love the way they advertise the ticket as “from £15” and then suggest that the best way to get a ticket is apply for a cheap ticket but say that you will take a more expensive one if the cheaper one is not available. I bet there are not many £15 tickets available!

Next week I’ll be paying my fiver to watch Pooler play at Tondu. If we win it will be money well spent.  

  

Chair today gone tomorrow

So David Pickering has been ousted as Chairman of the WRU. I guess he’s paid the penalty for the mishandling of the acrimonious and lengthy row between the WRU and the Regions. He has certainly not been a friend to Pontypool during his tenure and it is hoped that his successor thinks a little more about grass roots rugby than Messrs Pickering and Lewis have.

On the plus side, Pickering was in position for the best part of a decade during which the Welsh National team have been the strongest in the Northern Hemisphere. The tight knit and well drilled squad with the combination of a strong and reliable forwards and try scoring backs won three grand slams during his tenure. The Northern hemisphere giants England and France seemed to become obsessed with the Heineken Cup and their clubs built strong squads bristling with recruits from all over the world, This was to the detriment of their national teams and Wales took full advantage.

Even though the Welsh ruled the roost in Europe they were singularly unsuccessful against the big three Southern Hemisphere teams although they pushed Australia and South Africa to the limit a number of times.

The Welsh team were arguably at its best during the 2011 World Cup. The draw for quarter and semi finals opened up for them but alas the infamous Warburton red card in the semi final against France ultimately did for them. You genuinely thought that with the momentum that Wales had built up we could have taken an edgy New Zealand team in the final

On the flipside, Welsh regional rugby seriously underperformed as the Welsh benefactors’ pockets were not deep enough to compete for the kind of imports needed to be competitive on the European stage. The French and English clubs fought for higher and higher profile players and started to target the Welsh stars. This has led to an exodus of a stream of our best players and left the regions even less competitive.

The money that the WRU used to pay off the debt on the Millennium Stadium plus the money for regional rugby meant that there was precious little left for the clubs in Wales and there is no doubt that grass roots rugby in Wales has suffered. Now, even more money will be spent on the top players with the introduction of central contracts. This means even less available in the lower echelons of the game.

They say that success breeds success but unfortunately this does not seem to be true in Wales where, despite a strong and competitive national team, the rest of the pyramid continues to struggle. You can’t help feeling that, somewhere along the line, that the game in Wales has missed a golden opportunity. Let us hope that, with fresh blood on the board, we can forget the acrimony of the past and build something for the future. More of the same clearly won’t do.  

Shocked and Awed

Pontypool travelled to Bargoed for the first league match of the season hoping for a strong start to the season. Bargoed is not the place to visit if you are not in the right frame of mind and on the top of your form. This was going to be a real test of the strength of the squad and the impact of the new coaching team.

Pontypool started well enough and managed to put together some impressive phase play although it seemed to lack a cutting edge. This all changed when the dark clouds above finally delivered the heavy rainfall that they had been threatening. Pooler’s early brightness faded like the sunlight and the Bargoed pack seized control and was dominant at the scrum and particularly at the breakdown. Pontypool seemed shocked to come up against a team who wanted to win more than them and knew exactly how to exploit their weaknesses. Pontypool started to give away penalties at the breakdown and ultimately lost their hooker Prosser for ten minutes when he was shown a yellow card. Bargoed kicked 3 penalties to open up a 9 point lead and the away team and their supporters seemed pretty subdued. In a rare incursion into the Bargoed half, Pooler were award a penalty and Hancock obliged to leave the score at half time 9-3. Pontypool were still in the match but certainly needed to up their game in the second half if they were to put up a realistic challenge.

What Pontypool most needed was a good start to the second half and they quickly established a position deep in the Bargoed 22. Then disaster, a long looped pass was intercepted by the Bargoed full back who ran the best part of 80 yards to score under the posts and increase the home side’s lead to 16-3. Worse was to follow when Pooler lock Ryan Thomas was shown a red card for punching. This type of ill discipline is totally unacceptable and basically killed off the game.

The Bargoed pack needed no second invitation and proceeded to dismantle a dispirited away pack. Pontypool had no answers as Bargoed piled on the points with their number 8, Coombes, helping himself to a hat trick of tries. In desperation, Pontypool tried to run their meagre scraps of possession but came up against a Bargoed defence that was a strong as the security around the Celtic Manor last week.

It was a blessed relief when the final whistle went with the score at 40-3. Pooler trooped off the field with their heads bowed - it had been a truly chastening afternoon.

Losing at Bargoed is no disgrace, they are a strong team and no doubt will be challenging for a top three position in the league. The manner of the defeat is pretty worrying however. Not many players performed to the potential and it was alarming to see their heads drop as the tide turned against them. Quick and Matthew Thomas did do themselves justice and it is a shame that Matthew’s namesake in the second row couldn’t keep his fists to himself. There were a few key players missing from the team which might have made a difference but, all in all, this was a pretty comprehensive defeat.

No doubt there will be a full post mortem in training and I’m sure that the team can bounce back. Llanharan at home next Saturday will be a great opportunity for the squad to demonstrate their resilience.

On Friday evening I started to watch the Ospreys v. Treviso but soon flicked over to Northampton v. Gloucester. The difference in pace and intensity between the two games was startling. I think that Richard Hibbard had the kind of rude awakening that Pontypool had when he found himself packing down against Dylan Hartley and a rampant Saints pack. It was good to see George North looking back at the top of his game and his second try was a gem. The crowds that English rugby draws are amazing and it creates the kind of atmosphere that Welsh club rugby used to have all those years ago. I mustn’t dwell on past glories again I hear you say!

So not the best of starts to the season for Pooler but things can only get better.