I missed
another Pontypool game as the long trek to Newcastle Emlyn unfortunately
clashed with another part of my busy social programme. “Get your priorities
right young man”, I hear you say. Pooler games are like gold dust in the
slimmed down version of the Championship this season so it was with a heavy
heart that I took up my position on the couch with my tablet close at hand.
What is more, I may well miss the next Pooler game as I will be going to
Cardiff for the Wales v. Argentina game. Even though the Pontypool game has
been brought forward it still does not leave enough time for travel and adequate
liquid refreshment.
The good
news was that Pontypool recorded their ninth straight win in the Championship
by the narrow margin of 18-23 at Newcastle Emlyn. It all sounded pretty tense
with Pooler yet again tested to the full and just managing to squeeze home.
Having read the excellent match report and fielded the tweets, it doesn’t seem
as if Pooler were firing on all cylinders against a spirited home team. I felt
quite tense on the couch I must say.
There
certainly wasn’t much tension in the Ospreys v Dragons game on the TV. Two late
tries by the Dragons made the final score (35-17) look a lot closer than the
match actually was. The Dragon’s forwards struggled to be competitive against
what was not far off an Osprey’s second team pack and the home backs were far
sharper. Keelan Giles on the wing certainly looks an exciting prospect.
One of my
hobbyhorses is the massive variation in the size of in goal areas on rugby
pitches. It really does have a significant effect on the game – the laws say
that the dead ball line can be 10-22 metres from the goal line. It seems a
massive variation and with the way the ball bounces on both artificial and
converted football pitches it has a major impact on tactical kicking. In the
Dragons’ game Macloed actually had so little room that he put his foot on the
deadball line while trying to make a clearance kick.
I also
cast my eyes over Cardiff Blues v. the Scarlets on Friday night. A really
strange game full of thrills and spills and perhaps the direst ten minutes of
rugby that I have seen. The Blues were pressing with ten minutes left in the
first half and the full ten minutes was consumed by five metre scrum after five
metre scrum. Even though two of the props were yellow carded, it went on and on
for what seemed to be an eternity. This does the game no favours at all. The
referee didn’t have his greatest day but there has to be some responsibility on
the players to produce a spectacle. The Scarlets would probably argue that they
achieved the aim of stopping the Blues scoring but, dear oh dear, it was
excruciating.
In the
Premiership, there are wildly differing starts to the season from the four
teams that pipped Pontypool for promotion last season. Merthyr and RGC 1404 go
from strength to strength with six wins out of seven while Swansea and Bargoed
struggle with only one win each. I wonder how Pontypool would have fared? Sadly
it will be a few years before we get a chance to find out.
Next
weekend Wales kick off the Autumn Internationals with a match against
Australia. It must be a year since we played them last so we must all be
getting withdrawal symptoms. Let’s hope we can finally play for the full eighty
minutes and sneak a win. One can only hope. I suspect will not make too many
changes from the tried and tested team and formula but it would be refreshing
if they took the opportunity to try something or somebody new.
Come on
Wales!
For Pooler
there is a chance to reflect on what has been a terrific start to the season.
Well done boys you have made us proud. There is still a long way to go and
certainly no room for complacency but so far so good.
Keep it
going Pooler!
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