Home Sweet Home

After two weekends in Twickenham with all the angst that they brought with them, it was good to be back in the serene surroundings of Pontypool Park. Although it was a grey and wet afternoon the autumn colours of the leaves on the trees were a sight to be behold. This really is a beautiful place and it is in stark contrast to the forbidding edifice of HQ at Twickenham. Pontypool have been in good form of late but have always found the visitors from Bridgend Athletic to be worthy opponents. Indeed last season Athletic gave Pooler a bit of a thrashing at the Park so the home side would surely be keen to put the record straight.

From the start, there was a contrast in the tactics employed by the two teams. Pontypool were keen to play a high tempo running game whilst the visitors employed a kicking game coupled with forward drives. Pontypool’s strategy was high risk in the conditions and although it was entertaining stuff there were errors galore. Pontypool eventually opened the scoring with a penalty by Gullis after some pretty breathless attacking. Another attack broke down and Bridgend won a lineout close to the home try line. Their lineout drive was clinically executed and they took a 3-7 lead rather against the run of play.

The Pontypool scrum began to get the ascendancy and with the lineout functioning well the home side had plenty of possession. A combination of stubborn Bridgend Athletic defence and high error count from Pontypool meant that the home side squandered a number of good chances to score. This was pretty frustrating for both players and fans alike. At last the dominance paid off and after some concerted attacking Parry crossed for a try which Gullis converted to give Pooler a narrow 10-7 lead at half time. Too close for comfort, so wise words would be needed in the changing room during the break.

Pontypool substituted both props at half time and the scrum dominance became overwhelming with the away side being pushed back yards. A scrum close to the Athletic line led to a penalty try being awarded and Pooler gaining a useful 17-7 lead. The tale of woe continued for the away side when they were reduced to fourteen men when their right wing Lewis was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on. Another scrum shortly afterwards saw Pontypool awarded second penalty try and what looked an unassailable 24-7 lead.

A sudden rash of injuries in the visitors’ front row led to uncontested scrummaging which nullified Pooler’s most potent weapon as they went in search of the bonus point try with a quarter of the match remaining. There was more frustration as Pooler camped in the Athletic half but could not seem to give the final telling pass to score a try. They made a catalogue of errors as the players seemed to get more and more anxious as time ticked away. At last a searing break by substitute centre Lewis saw him score the coveted fourth try with only a few minutes remaining. Gullis converted from wide out to give a final score of 31-7.

There was much to admire about Pontypool’s approach play and they really should have scored more tries. The conditions were not ideal but the error count was too high at critical moments. The set piece continues to look strong and the loose play of the forwards is highly competitive. All in all a pretty effective team is coming together. It is a really tough league with few easy games so the confidence that winning brings is a crucial factor.

There is no game next weekend due to some minor event at Twickenham but it is Beddau away the following Saturday. Another tough nut to crack but Pooler’s away form is good.

I got home in time to catch the second half of the RWC semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa. The RWC had got to that phase when teams worry more about making mistakes than playing attacking rugby. The heavy rain certainly didn’t help the All Blacks who need to play a high tempo game to be most effective. They gave away far too many penalties against the uncompromising Springboks and nearly paid dearly for it. In the end they just about protected a narrow lead to win 20-18. It was a tense affair but the All Blacks deserved to win as they scored the only two tries of the game. Let us hope that the second semi-final is a bit less dour.

An Australian told me that they are introducing a fifth/sixth playoff into the RWC. It’s called the Six Nations! For this reason I want Argentina to win.

Come on Argentina! Come on Pooler!

PS Spare a thought for Craig Joubert. He doesn’t deserve to be vilified. He’s a good referee who got a really close call wrong. We are all fallible.

North South Divide

Sitting in the stand at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon at around 5.00 pm I felt quite pleased. The news of a thumping win for Pontypool at Newcastle Emlyn plus a decent measure of alcohol certainly helped but so too did the first half display by Wales against South Africa. We had more than matched them in most aspects of the game and even had the temerity to have a narrow lead. We had given away a few too many penalties otherwise our lead would have been a little bit more comfortable but a chat at halftime could surely put that right. Of course I am the veteran of many such promising situations when Wales take on one of the Southern Hemisphere powerhouses. Mostly they have ended in tears and this, as we all know now, was to be no exception.

South Africa did the vast majority of the attacking in the second half and it was only fantastic defending that kept Wales narrowly ahead until the fateful last few minutes. Yes it happened again - the Boks pinched it right at the end with a well-worked try and our hearts were broken once more. It happened right in front of me and I still think that South Africa should have been penalised at the fateful breakdown rather than being given the put-in at the scrum.

So Wales exit the RWC. My abiding memories will be that marvellous win against all the odds against England and the tremendous effort required to hang on against Fiji when the team was absolutely knackered. There was some pretty awesome defending too in losing battles against Australia and South Africa which almost brought victory. Whilst the defence was world class, the attack was pretty limited and at the end of the day we did not score enough tries to be a true contender. The enormous injury list amongst our backs is well documented and that surely restricted our options but even in the Six Nations Championship last season we struggled to score tries apart from the Italian match where we simply had to throw caution to the wind. There will be plenty of videos to pore over in the dark winter nights and the way that the All Blacks, Australia, Argentina and Japan turn pressure into tries would be well worth watching.

If Wales felt heartbreak, then spare a thought for Scotland who had their quarter final against Australia all but won. A famous victory was snatched away with a pretty dubious last gasp penalty. Knowing Australia as we do, I wouldn’t have put it past them to score from the attacking scrum that should have been awarded rather than a penalty. Australia certainly looked like scoring a try every time they had any continuity and had already scored five tries in the match. It was pulsating affair with Australia uncharacteristically making errors and even presenting Scotland with two gift wrapped tries from a charged down kick and an interception. We can certainly expect the Scots to be a handful in the new year.

The other two quarter finals saw thumping victories for the All Blacks and Argentina against France and Ireland respectively. Maybe the fact that the Irish and the French had been bashing lumps out of each other the previous week had something to do with it but their southern hemisphere opponents looked pretty impressive and thoroughly deserved their wins.

So the semi-finals are a Southern Hemisphere lock-out as they say in Formula One. I suppose it is no great surprise to see New Zealand, Australia and South Africa there but Argentina have gone quietly and effectively about their business. Both the All Blacks and the Pumas exploded into life in the quarter finals and look to be building momentum at just the right time. The Aussies and the Boks will need to recover from two pretty ferocious games. Australia will have faced England, Wales and Scotland on successive weekends and will not find it easy against Argentina.

There’s no more traipsing up and down the M4 to London for me. I can now get back to proper rugby and the Welsh Championship. Pontypool have strung together some good results and climbed to third place in the table. Next week finds them at home to Bridgend Athletic. There is a clash between that and the New Zealand v South Africa semi-final in the RWC. The question is can I record the semi and get home without knowing the result.

A big “well done” to the Welsh team who have given everything they could. It’s a real shame we couldn’t sneak a win on Saturday but at least we beat the English.

Come on Pooler!

Hope Flickers at Twickers

I have never really liked Twickenham or “HQ” as some people would have it. I have always regarded it as a grim and inhospitable stadium to watch rugby and have often vowed never to return particularly after Wales have been on the end of a beating. So it was with a low expectations that I returned to the said venue to watch the final pool match for Wales in the RWC. Wales of course had already qualified for the quarter finals so the match against Australia was to decide on future opponents. Both sides wanted to win as that would mean a theoretically easier passage through the knock-out stages. Contrary to my rather jaundiced expectations, Twickers was transformed. Everyone was far more friendly and the mood altogether far lighter than on previous visits. I wonder why that was?

The outcome of the match is well documented with Wales losing 6-15 with the outcome decided by penalty goals. Defences were well on top and the crucial period of the match was when the Aussies put up brick wall that kept Wales out when the Welsh had numerical supremacy. It was truly frustrating but you can only admire the Australians’ resolution. Wales adopted very much a “blunt instrument” approach which did make it a bit easier to counter. Our lack of key personnel in the back field told as we did not seem to have the guile needed to outfox the Aussies. You could not help feeling that Rhys Webb or Scott Williams might have sniffed out a chance.

A chance missed then and so on to a clash with South Africa. The bad news is that Wales will be without Liam Williams – yet another body blow to the depleted back division. This will be another immensely physical encounter in this most brutal of competitions. Lord knows how we will reshuffle the pack of backs this time. This will be straight knockout, with no second chances, so I think we need to score some tries from somewhere. I really hope that we don’t decide that the best option is to be ultra-defensive and rely on goal kicking to scrape through. Surely there is a lesson to be gleaned from the Japanese approach which demonstrated that with attacking verve even the greatest of underdogs can triumph. Regarding the Japanese, it is worth remembering that, if it hadn’t been for the insanity of the match scheduling which meant that they ran out of energy in the final quarter against Scotland, we could have been facing them on Saturday.

Whilst I was away on international duty, Pooler recorded their first home win of the season with a victory over Llanharan by a 60-18 margin. This keeps the Pooler in fourth place in the Championship with a trip to Newcastle Emlyn in the offing next weekend. This will be yet another challenge but confidence must be high in the camp.  Yet more injuries though – let’s hope that they are not too serious.

Come on Wales! Come on Pooler! 

Pontypool Rockets, Lancaster Bombs

Saturday started badly – the lift in the apartment block where I live had broken down. Even though I live on the ground floor, I seem to have accepted responsibility for this pesky bit of kit. Suffice to say, by the time that the engineer had fixed it, it was too late to travel to Merthyr to watch Pontypool’s latest encounter. Merthyr have been carrying all before them so far this season and so this was the ultimate test for the injury ravaged Pooler squad.

Eventually I found my way to the couch and, with my mobile phone and tablet close at hand, tuned into the Japan v Samoa match in the RWC. Even though I was not at Merthyr, the excellence of the stream of tweets from the Wern kept me well in touch with what was going on.

Of all the teams competing in the RWC, I think I have enjoyed the play of the Japanese best. Not the biggest in stature, they play a high tempo game which is backed up with technical excellence in the set pieces. After their dramatic win against the Springboks, they were the victim of the dreaded shorted turnaround between matches and rather ran out of steam in the final quarter of the match against Scotland to ultimately lose quite heavily. They were rejuvenated against Samoa and quickly took control of the match against their much more heavily built opponents.

The tweets from Merthyr kept pinging in and it was clear that Pontypool were giving a good account of themselves and the match was building up to a close finish. I glanced at my watch to see if there was still time to jump in the car and drive to Merthyr but it was no good.

Meanwhile the Japanese were building up a healthy lead and looked good for a bonus point win which would threaten the qualification of the heavy weights of their pool South Africa and Samoa.

Another ping and Pooler were actually in the lead at Merthyr but were down to fourteen men. Tension was rising and my palm was sweating as I clutched my mobile phone to my chest. I even had to let go of the remote for the TV – almost unheard of!

On the TV, the heavy hitting of the Samoans had eventually taken its toll on the Japanese and, as their pace slowed, the bonus point was clearly beyond their reach. They would have to settle for a comfortable 25-5 victory.

Yet another ping and the glad news from Merthyr told me what I was longing to hear - Pooler had held on for a 13-20 victory against the league leaders. A fantastic win that will be a real tonic to everyone associated with the club. It has been a tough start to the season and to emerge from it with three away wins and a home draw in the first five games is a great result.

Next up from the RWC was Scotland v South Africa. The South Africans looked to have fully recovered after the shock defeat by Japan and really overpowered the Scots to show that they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with as the tournament progresses. The 34-16 victory puts them in charge of their group with a game against USA to follow. Japan need to beat the USA and hope that Scotland lose against Samoa if they are to progress.

So now on to the most important match of the RWC so far – England v Australia. If England didn’t win they were out and Wales and Australia would qualify for the quarter finals. It is not often that I root for Australia but this was one of those days. Call me parochial but I didn’t really want Wales to have to beat Australia to progress. I don’t think I was alone in that sentiment as the social media was positively seething with pro Aussie messages.

We were told that England, with fire in their bellies, would start well and that their scrum was going to overpower Australia. This couldn’t be further from the truth as the Australians quickly took charge of the game and demonstrated conclusively that their scrum was more than a match for the English. Inexorably the English dream slipped away as their glaring weakness at the breakdown was cruelly exposed by Pocock and Hooper and the Aussies turned pressure into points. Even as a pessimistic Welshmen, I had to concede that we were on our way to the quarterfinals with a match to spare. The final result a resounding 13-33 victory for Australia was a true reflection of the match. England were down and out. The chariot had swung pretty low. As Windsor Davies would have said, “Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.”

So now we will have a few days of recriminations in the English media before rugby disappears off the front and back pages to be replaced by football. I am not sure what all those English rugby pundits are going to do – maybe they will have to start talking about the other teams.

Wales will play Australia at Twickenham next week in the knowledge that they have already qualified. It will be interesting to see what sort of team we field. It seems likely that if we win we would play Scotland and if we lose we would play the Springboks in the quarter final. I think I would be inclined to rest some of the key players for the game and not worry too much about who we will play next. It’s a nice problem to have though!

It looks to me as if the Southern Hemisphere sides, as expected, will be the ones to beat as they all seem to be imposing themselves on the tournament. France and Ireland have not really been tested yet so their encounter next week will be fascinating as they battle to try and avoid facing the All Blacks in the QF.

I am going to the Wales v Australia at Twickers match next weekend and looking forward to a far more relaxed experience than I originally anticipated. My finger nails will certainly benefit as they have been suffering over the last couple of weeks. Pontypool play Llanharan at home and hopefully will build on their brilliant victory over Merthyr.

Hard luck England. Maybe you shouldn’t have bought the chariot from VW after all - the performance wasn't quite as you expected!

Come on Wales, come on Pooler.

Grey Wales Tough It Out

Yesterday I had my first live experience of the Rugby World Cup 2015 when I went to Cardiff to watch Fiji play Wales. The Millennium Stadium was packed to the rafters but it was an atmosphere unlike any that I have experienced in the fifty or so years I have been watching Wales international matches in Cardiff. There seemed to be little of the raucous Welsh support that I have come to expect. Virtually everyone who was sitting around me was English and supporting Fiji in an almost self-conscious way. Unsurprisingly I seemed to be the only one who sang the Welsh National Anthem in the vicinity. Where was the goat?

To make matters worse, Wales had chosen to wear absurdly dull dark grey shirts. This did nothing to breathe fire into the Welsh dragon. Imagine if all the Welsh supporters decided to wear dark grey – it would be like going to a business meeting or something. I can’t think of any sport’s team that has been successful playing in such a drab colour – black would have been better. On the other hand, I suppose grey whales are eschrichtius robustus and Wales were certainly going to need to be pretty robust against the powerful South Sea Islanders

Wales had a job to do. They had to back up that epic win against England with another victory. Would the short turnaround time between matches claim another victim? Well to start with things looked fine, Wales started with energy and purpose and soon had a try on the board. It was clear that Fiji were going to run the ball at every opportunity and sap the Welsh reserves of energy. This was a high risk policy but great entertainment. Wales stuck to their guns and built up a 17-6 lead at half time with a further try and penalty. The Welsh scrum was under pressure and they had turned over too much ball but they were still in a good position.

As the second half progressed, Wales started to flag as the gargantuan effort they had made at the weekend took its toll. Fiji scored a brilliant try when Wales lost possession in the Fiji 22 and we were no longer thinking about a winning bonus point but just hanging on to win. I was sitting behind the posts and I have to say the Welsh defensive system was awesome. Yes they missed the occasional tackle against their strong running opponents, but there was always someone there to cover up. The exemplary goalkicking of Biggar coupled with the brave and resolute defence eventually saw Wales home 13-23 with the players looking absolutely drained at the final whistle.

I think the sad thing about the RWC is that it has quickly become a war of attrition. Far too many players are getting injured and a recovery time of less than a week is proving to be too short for such a physical sport. If the game continues to become more and more a slug fest, there will need to be some careful thought about how to structure the next RWC in four years’ time. The way it is going it will start as fifteen a side and finish as a sevens tournament!

At least Wales now have a decent rest period before the next match against Australia in Twickenham. It would certainly make things much simpler of Australia could prevail over England tomorrow. If that were the case Wales and Australia would just be playing for first and second place in the group and we could enjoy the game. Things rarely work out that simply but we can hope.

Hearty congratulations to Warren and the boys you have done us proud. Three wins out of three is just brilliant.

PS I am not going to moan about the fact that there was only one train to Newport an hour after the game.