Northern Delights

The rugby season ended for Pontypool with an away match against RGC 1404 in Colwyn bay. I didn’t make the trip and as a consequence clutched my tablet to my chest and waited anxiously for the tweets to come in with regular updates. At the same time I was watching Judgement Day from the Millennium Stadium on the telly.

The match in North Wales turned out to be a very low scoring affair and I could feel the tension as Pooler defended a narrow lead in what seemed like an endless second half. There was much relief when the news that Pooler had won 6-7 was finally confirmed. An excellent victory that gives us the double over the Gogs. Pontypool will now finish in fifth place in the Championship which is one place below last season’s fourth place. The final points tally of 77 is 6 less than the 83 achieved in 2013-14.

When I reflect on the season, it is one that has been dogged by inconsistency. When Pontypool were good they were very good but when they were bad they were pretty awful. The heavy defeat in Bargoed in the first match soon shattered a lot of the usual pre-season optimism. This set Bargoed up for a glorious unbeaten run which put them streets of the rest ahead all season. It was certainly a shock to learn that Bargoed suffered their first defeat yesterday when Merthyr took their proud record. Swansea were the other form side and after Pooler’s agonising defeat at St Helens they soon pulled clear to occupy second place.

This left the rest of the league fighting for the minor places and until Blackwood’s demise there were few easy matches for Pooler. Since four of Pontypool’s ten defeats were against Bargoed and Swansea you can see that they gave as good as they got against the other teams. Long term injuries to the influential Dyckhoff and Sparks certainly did not help their cause and I hope both are progressing well. The highlights of the season for me were probably the home wins against RGC 1404 and Glynneath when Pooler really showed what they could do. Of course there were lowlights too but I prefer to erase them from my mind.

So, a frustrating season which was certainly not good for the blood pressure at times but for all that enjoyable in a masochistic sort of way. I would like to express my appreciation for the management, players and sponsors who provide me with my Saturday afternoon fix.

As a long time Pooler fan, you get used to the highs and lows and you never give up hope. Maybe next season will be the one!

So to Judgement Day and the double header at the Millennium Stadium. Ticket sales of around 50,000 can’t be bad and shows what can happen if the prices are kept low. I assume that season ticket holders for the “home teams” do not have to pay for their tickets but it surely must have made money. Of course when you have two matches not everyone watches both but there seemed to be a decent atmosphere with the roof closed.

The first match pitted the Blues against the Ospreys and surprisingly the Blues had the better of the first half although the Ospreys kept well in touch with a last minute try. In the second half the Ospreys played some great rugby and romped to a bonus point victory. The Blues never gave up trying and scored a couple of tries themselves including one in the last minute which gave a final score of 23-31. Both sides showed a refreshing willingness to run the ball at every opportunity and although there were a lot of mistakes it was pretty entertaining stuff.

The second match was the Dragons versus the Scarlets and it was pretty similar to the previous match in the way that it unfolded. The Dragons had the better of much of the first half but the Scarlets seized a couple of opportunities right at the end of the half to snatch a lead. The first Scarlets’ try should have been disallowed as the referee got in the way of the Dragons’ defence but the second try was a cracker with Scott Williams scoring following a great break by Liam Williams. As in the first game, the West Wales outfit took control in the second half to secure a bonus point win 10-29. This game was also played with the same attacking intent as the first game and the young Dragons backs looked pretty sharp at times.

For all the good rugby played and the large crowd, the reality is that the Dragons and the Blues currently occupy ninth and tenth positions in the Pro 12 with only the Italian sides below them. With the Ospreys in fourth and the Scarlets in sixth place it is hardly anything to celebrate. So my judgement would be that the Welsh Regions have undeniably underperformed this season.

So now we go into aestivation ready to emerge with batteries recharged for the challenges of next season and the Rugby World Cup. Would it be too much to hope for….  

One Way Traffic at Pontypool

Well we have arrived at the last home game of the season. The visitors to Pontypool Park were local rivals Blackwood on a beautiful spring day. Blackwood have suffered a sharp decline in fortunes lately following internal issues in the club and have rather become the Championship’s whipping boys. We therefore took our places on the sun-drenched Bank expecting a substantial home win. Nothing really prepared us for what was to follow.

It all started normally enough when Blackwood took the lead with a penalty and Pontypool replied with two unconverted tries from Thorley and Norton. Pooler’s lead was quickly cancelled out by a Blackwood interception try and the score was 10-10. The signs for Blackwood had been ominous, however, with their scrum being pushed back yards and the ease with which Pooler had scored the first two tries. From then on it was absolute carnage as Pontypool ran riot in the perfect playing conditions.

Even though Pooler’s handling was not totally accurate they racked up tries at regular intervals and a flurry of tries just before half time left the score at 48-10 at the break. Pontypool had scored 8 tries and had easily secured a bonus point. Blackwood were trying their hardest but were outpaced and overpowered by a rampant home side. When you thought about all the tough battles that the two sides had fought in the past, it was rather sad to see Blackwood’s demise and you rather feared for what might happen in the second half.

What actually did happen was even more one-sided than in the first half with Pooler continuing to accumulate tries. If this had been a boxing match, the Blackwood corner would have thrown in the towel but there was no such respite available for the battered visitors. To their credit, they kept battling away as the scoreboard approached the three figure mark. Pontypool’s play was breath-taking at times as their confidence soared and Brookes on the right wing helped himself to 4 tries in the match. Even when Pooler passed the 100 point mark they kept going relentlessly and eventually ran in an incredible 10 tries in the second half to leave a final score of 112-10.

At the end of the match, there was no feeling of jubilation as it had not really been a contest at all. You had to feel sympathy for Blackwood and we at Pontypool know only too well how sharp a decline can be when things go against you off the field. Let us hope that they manage to bounce back next season.

For Pontypool’s part, this should have them brimming with confidence for the visit to North Wales next week for the final game of the season against RGC 1404. One thing is certain it will be a far tougher encounter with both sides anxious to finish as near to the top of the league as possible.

When I got home I just caught the tail-end of the Clermont v Saracens match and it was as if you were watching a different sport. The intensity was incredible but the ambition to score tries through guile was low. It was all about whether the bludgeon-like attack could overcome the monstrous defence. Sure it was close and tense but hardly a spectacle. The scintillating play on the last day of the Six Nations Championship has soon been forgotten.

Sad to see that the Dragons’ renaissance was soon stopped dead in its tracks at Edinburgh thus bringing a pretty miserable European season for the Welsh regions to an end. It is hardly surprising when you see the roll call of talent available to the French and English sides.

We all hope for better fortunes next season but come on Pooler let’s finish this one in style. 

Pooler Cast Iron Asunder

I had missed the last two Pontypool games and by all accounts Pooler’s performances had been a bit of a mixed bag with a heavy home defeat by Bridgend Athletic followed by a solid away win at local rivals Newbridge. So when I rolled up at Pontypool Park on a beautiful sunny afternoon, I was not really sure what to expect. I certainly hoped that the home side would bloom like the abundant blossom that made the Park look such a picture. The visitors were the Ironmen of Merthyr who have really made their presence felt in the Championship after promotion the previous season. They actually occupied fourth place in the table one position above Pontypool and had already lowered Pooler’s colours in the reverse fixture in a thoroughly entertaining encounter. This was certainly not going to be easy.

Pontypool played down the slope in the first half and had some advantage from a stiff breeze that was blowing almost across the pitch. The home side failed to field the Merthyr kick off and were immediately under pressure with Merthyr putting phase after phase together. Pontypool’s defence held firm and they eventually were awarded a penalty and managed to escape from their twenty two. The home side worked their way down field and demonstrated how to take advantage of field position when fullback Hurley burst through to score after entering the three-quarter line at pace. The successful conversion gave Pooler a 7-0 lead.

The rest of the first half was a curious affair with Pontypool having real dominance in the set pieces and often pushing back the Merthyr scrum yards. For all that dominance, however, Merthyr seemed the more likely side to score as they seemed to possess an uncanny knack of evading the home side’s attempted tackles. This resulted in many line breaks and the away side having the upper hand in terms of territory. Somehow Pontypool seemed to be able to make the last ditch tackle that prevented a try being scored and Merthyr were unable to register any points. For their part Pontypool used their forward power to win a couple of penalties and increased their lead to 13-0 by half time. The game was still in the balance as the Merthyr backs had looked more than capable of reducing the deficit if given good ball.

Merthyr started strongly in the second half but again failed to cross the home try line despite creating a number of chances. The Pontypool scrum was proving a formidable weapon and coupled with some powerful driving play from the forwards allowed them to work their way back up field.

Pontypool created a number of chances themselves as their forward dominance told. They were rather unfortunately penalised for not releasing the ball during an attack and in the blink of an eye the Merthyr scrum half had taken a quick tap penalty and their speedy backs had run seventy metres to score in the corner. At 13-5 it was game on and you felt that the next score would be crucial.

Pooler were stung into action and started to play some of their best rugby. They pressed hard but frustratingly the final scoring pass failed to go to hand on several occasions. Eventually the pressure told and, spurning an opportunity for an easy three points, they took a quick tap penalty themselves for Matthew Thomas to score under the posts. This opened up a 15 point gap with around ten minutes remaining and this proved to be a winning lead despite a yellow card for Pooler’s Nash and some enterprising play from Merthyr as they threw caution to the wind. Both sides created some chances but neither troubled the scoreboard to leave the final score at 20-5.

This was a really good performance from Pontypool against strong opposition. The basis of the victory was the powerful pack and the team managed to take their opportunities at crucial stages of the game. This is something that has not always been the case during a rather inconsistent season. There are now only two games remaining and next week sees the visit of hapless Blackwood to the Park. There is no room for complacency but a good victory would leave the team in good heart for the visit to RGC 1404 that rounds off the season.

Well done Pooler let’s finish off the season in style!