On Friday evening I had the misfortune to watch the Newport Gwent Dragons play Glasgow Glasgow
As a Pontypool fan, part of me
was saying, "It serves you right. You made no concerted attempt to fully
involve the traditional powerhouse clubs of the Gwent valleys in regional
development. Instead you chose the easy option to work closely with the lesser
clubs that wouldn't stand in the way of Newport RFC. Even this hasn't worked
out as Bedwas and Cross keys have left Newport
The other part of me was squirming in embarrassment as the Dragons
capitulated. It really was pathetic. If the Dragons had been a horse they would
have put them in a burger. It was also sad to see the deterioration in the
playing surface at Rodney Parade as the studs of three teams inevitably take
their toll and turn it into a passable set for Lawrence of Arabia.
So to the main event of the weekend, as Pontypool
entertained their close neighbours from Newbridge. Pontypool
are locked in the dungeon of the Championship as a consequence of Poolergate
and, on this evidence, this is where they are doomed to stay this season. They
were defeated 5-33 and owed the 5 to a last minute try when the game had
already been put to bed. Newbridge were not exactly a great side and blew
plenty of chances by poor handling and wrong option taking but they were still
more than a match for a poor and disjointed Pooler side. Whenever Newbridge
managed to put a few passes together, they looked dangerous.You might argue
that Pooler held them to 0-0 for most of the first half and only started to
leak tries when they went down to 14 men due to a sin-binning but the writing
was on the wall long before that.
There is no end to the abysmal run in sight I fear.
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