Sunday 29 January 2017

Super Pooler Defy the Odds

Due to one thing another, it has been a while since I have seen the Pooler in action and I have been looking forward to Pontypool’s visit to Llanelli in the Swalec Cup ever since the draw was made. A cup encounter with Llanelli brings back many memories for us long-in-the-tooth supporters. Unfortunately none of the memories are particularly happy as Pooler have never managed to find a way past the cup specialists. Since my last post, Pooler had extended their unbeaten run to sixteen in the Championship with wins against Glynneath (34-13) and at Dunvant (10-34) so must have felt confident that an upset against their illustrious Premiership opponents was on the cards.
This was my first visit to Parc Y Scarlets and it is certainly pretty impressive. The contrast with the other venues that Pontypool have played at this season couldn’t be starker. In the convivial surroundings of the Quinnell Lounge it was immediately clear that the Pooler Army was out in force and would surely outnumber the home support.

When we took our seats, we were presented with the eerie spectacle of a virtually deserted ground. All the spectators were seated in the middle of one stand and the rest of the stadium was empty. You could not imagine that much home advantage was going to be gained from such an environment. Indeed most of the noise was coming from the vociferous Pooler fans with little to be seen or heard from the Llanelli faithful.
The first ten minutes or so gave Pooler a warm welcome to Premiership rugby as Llanelli moved the ball slickly left and right looking highly dangerous. The away defence stood firm, however, and knocked the Llanelli attackers back time after time eventually gaining relief by winning a penalty.
Now it was time for Pontypool to show what they could do - and how! Quick broke down the left touchline and after interpassing with Usher scored in the corner. Agonisingly Jones’ conversion hit the post and stayed out but Pooler were in the lead at 0-5. The Pooler fans roared their appreciation.
Pontypool really got to grips with the match with the pack gaining a level of ascendancy and the half backs controlling the game well.  The game ebbed and flowed but the away side struck again with a Jones penalty to make it 0-8. Pontypool looked the more likely to score and as half time approached had a series of scrums under the Llanelli posts. Unfortunately they were unable to capitalise on the excellent field position and the home side cleared their lines.
In injury time Llanelli were awarded a penalty which Williams converted to make the score at the interval 3-8. Still very much all to play for but Pontypool had given the home side ample warning that they were a force to be reckoned with.
Llanelli started the second half strongly and almost immediately closed the gap to 6-8 with a penalty. Pontypool responded powerfully but another promising position near the Llanelli failed to yield any points. Shortly afterwards an errant kick and a rare defensive lapse led to Williams scoring a try for Llanelli. Even though the conversion missed, the home side were in the lead for the first time at 11-8. How would Pooler respond to this setback?
The answer was with plenty of guts and no little skill. The arrears were soon cleared with another Jones penalty (11-11) and from then on it was all Pooler as they smelled victory. They played the best rugby of the match as they set off in search of a winning score. Substitute hooker Watkins scored a well-deserved try in the right corner after an excellent passage of play. The missed conversion left the score at 11-16 and those of us who bear the scars of previous encounters still worried that the home side might still find a moment of inspiration.
We needn’t have fretted. Pontypool retained control of the match and another penalty from Jones opened up an eight point gap at 11-19 and we were able to breathe a little easier. Far from sitting back, Pontypool continued to press until the final whistle.  The Pooler fans roared with delight - their team had achieved a famous victory.

When you calm down and think about the game you realise that this was a victory that Pontypool thoroughly deserved. The whole team played out of their skins and wanted to win more that bit more that their opponents. They were not to be denied. Hearty congratulations to all involved as this was truly a team effort. Let’s hope for a home draw in the next round.
Next weekend I make the trip to Rome for the Six Nations opener for Wales. It will be fascinating to see the side that is selected with, second row apart, plenty of conundrums to solve. Will the six day turnaround before the England game be taken into account I wonder? Wales certainly need a winning start as things will get appreciably tougher from there on in with any more potential wins probably against the odds.

Meanwhile I will miss yet another Pooler game as they travel to Skewen next Saturday. They will need to come down to earth quickly as nothing can be taken for granted in the Championship.



Fantastic win Pooler, you did us proud!

Sunday 1 January 2017

Bah Humbug!

A barren period over the festive break for Pooler fans as there was no match after the Newbridge fixture on the 17th of December. Perhaps it is my age, but I get little joy out of going out in the cold to watch some other person’s favourite team play somebody else’s favourite team. So I tend to take to the couch and watch miscellaneous matches on the TV – at least you can flick to another channel if it becomes too much like hard work. It is probably just as well that Pontypool didn’t play as if they had played, say, a couple of matches there would only have been five league games left for the remaining four months of the season. As it is, there are only seven to look forward to. Let’s hope we can do a job on Llanelli and have a bit of cup rugby to supplement our meagre diet. The bad news for me is that I am going away for a couple of weeks and will miss three, yes three, of those precious seven matches. Aargh! Championship rugby has become a rare resource indeed.

Meanwhile on the couch I did watch quite a lot of the Welsh Regions battling it out in the much trumpeted local derbys. Rugby was a pretty rare resource in all four matches too as the Regions seemed to have adopted the style of the national team in the autumn internationals. Plenty of endeavour but skill levels lacking for large swathes of the time. Yes of course there were some bright spots and if you packaged a twenty minute combined highlights from the four matches it might look good but overall it was pretty disappointing stuff. The kicking duels in the Dragons v. Ospreys with crowd chanting “Ole” put the tin hat on a dismal series of matches. If the other games were turkeys then this was the parson’s nose. East Wales definitely came off second best overall with Ospreys the pick of the four regions in an eminently forgettable quartet.

As you can gather, these matches didn’t really make sparkling entertainment so quite a lot of channel hopping was the order of the day. Rugby from England and Ireland looked to be a couple of notches up in terms of skill and speed of thought and deed. Rugby in Wales is definitely seems to be drifting inexorably off the Northern Hemisphere pace let alone the Southern Hemisphere pace. I did watch a bit of Pontypridd v. Cross Keys in the Premiership and that was quite impressive at times so perhaps it is not all bad – clutching at straws here. Perhaps the plastic pitch at Sardis Road helped to make it a more open game. It must have been a lot easier to play on than the mud flats of Rodney Parade yesterday.

I just reread this and it is quite a depressing way to start the New Year. On a positive note Pontypool are sitting at the top of the Championship with an unbeaten record and have been playing some good rugby. Long may that continue.

Wishing all in Pontypool and beyond a successful and peaceful 2017.