The game of snakes and ladders with the WRU is over and the snakes have won. Unfortunately this has left Pooler without the vast majority of last season's players and coaching staff and a mountain of debt. To make matters worse the WRU have also taken the ladders away for the foreseeable future.
It was with a feeling of some trepidation that we went along to Pontypool Park for the first league game of the season against Beddau. Pooler will be playing in the Championship and it is sad to see that we will in the company of two other great Gwent clubs in Ebbw Vale and Newbridge. Add Glamorgan Wanderers and the former UWIC plus a number of other strong sides and it is clear that this will be a tough division for a group of young players who have not had time to bond as a team.
For all that, the initial pessimism began to clear as it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and there was a buzz of excitement around the ground. We had driven past the Hanbury which will now serve as the rugby club, there was a queue to buy season tickets and there was a whisper that we had a back-line with some potential. We took our usual place on the Bank and could see that a healthy crowd was building up. It was also apparent that Beddau had brought more supporters than Bedwas and Swansea combined had mustered in the past.. We glanced at the programme and did see a few familiar names but for the most part they were unknown quantities. A far cry from the days of the Pontypool teams containing umpteen Welsh internationals
So to the game. Pooler started quite well and it was immediately obvious that we had plenty of pace in the back three. Beddau would kick aimlessly down-field at their peril we thought. This was borne out when fullback Norton showed excellent pace in a long run that eventually led to an excellent try for Sandals. This combined with a couple of penalties saw Pooler into a 13-3 lead. Both sides tried to run the ball for the remainder of the first half with Pooler looking the most likely to score. Handling errors, however, were all too frequent and these plus a late penalty for Beddau meant that Pooler's lead was restricted to 13-6 at half time.
At the start of the second half, the Pooler backs dropped a few balls and Beddau immediately changed tactics and kicked the ball long at every opportunity and fed off Pooler's mistakes. This tactic worked well and Pontypool duly committed suicide gifting Beddau with three tries from interceptions following sloppy handling. The second interception try was actually from a scrum close to the Beddau line and seemed to knock the stuffing out of Pooler. Heads began to drop and with the score at 13-30 it looked bleak for the home side. To their credit Pooler rallied and scored two fine converted tries in the last few minutes to close the gap to 27-30 and earn a losing bonus point.
On reflection this was a game that Pontypool should have won. There were glimpses of real potential amongst the backs and surely things will improve as the players get to know each other better and their match fitness improves. There is a lot of work to do, however, and this promises to be a long hard season with some tough local derbies in prospect.
I note that "M4 rugby" has also kicked off and the Dragons recorded a win against Zebre. I hope this Italian side last longer at the top than did the Zebras of Treorchy in Wales but somehow I doubt it. In addition, Newport fielding a significant number of Pooler old boys pulled off a win against Aberavon. A clip on the TV showed the ground at Bedwas looking like a construction site in stark contrast to the picturesque Pontypool Park. Not that I am bitter, but every time I look across at the stand at Pontypool with it's costly combination of seating and standing I will silently curse the WRU.
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