There is still life in the land that the Welsh Rugby Union forgot

This was re-emergent Pooler’s biggest test of the season so far. A visit from their powerful neighbours Ebbw Vale was always going to be a massive challenge.

Both sides have reasons to be disgruntled with the WRU. Ebbw Vale have long been good enough to play in the Premiership but have been denied promotion for spurious reasons. The cynic would say that the WRU are waiting for a team that they do not like to finish at the bottom of the Premiership before they permit promotion. Pontypool, of course, are a team that the WRU don’t like and although they didn’t actually finish bottom of the Premiership were relegated on “track record”. This precipitated the well-documented Poolergate and nearly resulted in the total demise of the club. Suffice it to say that the upper Gwent valleys, a longstanding hot bed of rugby, have been left unrepresented at the higher level which certainly cannot be good for Welsh rugby.

The substantial crowd admirably demonstrated that the local punters are still more than willing to turn out to watch local derbies such as this rather than watch the Heineken Cup on the telly. It was great to see a long queue at the ticket window and the pre-match atmosphere was reminiscent of former times.

So to the match. Ebbw Vale started clear favourites and quickly demonstrated why they have been the major force in the league for several years. They set off with all guns blazing and the home side froze like rabbits caught in the headlights of a car. The away side immediately gained superiority in all aspects of the game and had registered two tries through Meyers and Cunliffe and stormed to a 0-12 lead in a twinkling of an eye. The Pooler faithful were stunned and feared a repeat of last season’s drubbings. To their eternal credit Pontypool did not fold but fought bravely against their stronger and more cohesive neighbours. Ebbw Vale started to make uncharacteristic mistakes as the Pontypool defence pressurised them and although they still held the initiative at scrum and lineout amazingly could not add to their score in the first half. From an attacking perspective, Pooler were unable to get anything going against the well organised Vale defence. They did however manage a Mills penalty to leave the score at half time a rather unlikely 3-12.

In the second half, Pooler seemed to gain inspiration from the closeness of the scores and continued to harass the away side into mistakes. Substitutions and yellow cards made the game less structured which favoured the home side and they finally began to win some decent possession from set pieces. Another Mills penalty closed the gap to 6 points and the Ebbw fans began to shuffle uneasily on the terrace. Pooler began to gain the ascendancy and were rewarded with an excellent try under the posts by Taylor after a precision piece of back play. Against all the odds, the conversion put Pooler in the lead 13-12 and a major upset seemed possible. Ebbw Vale then ably demonstrated why they have been virtually unbeatable in the Championship and put together some irresistible forward drives that resulted in what turned out to be the winning try from Kynes. The successful conversion made the score 13-19 with time running out. Ebbw Vale continued to press as they tried to make the game safe but missed two kickable penalties. For their part, Pooler continued to give everything and got themselves agonisingly close to the Ebbw Vale try line before conceding a penalty. Despite the titanic efforts of both teams, there were to be no more scores however.

Ebbw Vale had protected their unbeaten record but looked mightily relieved when the final whistle sounded. Pooler were left with a losing bonus point but more importantly took another big step forward towards building a competitive team. I think most Pontypool fans would have settled for that before the match but what might have been!

I got home just in time to catch the second half of the Harlequins v Scarlets game. You had to be impressed with the Scarlets and an away win is a great start but I fear there are tougher challenges ahead. The Blues were anything but impressive in the first half against Exeter’s furious onslaught as they conceded virtually a point a minute. Fortunately for them, Exeter could not keep the intensity up and the Blues bagged an unlikely bonus point for scoring four tries in the second half. I didn’t see the Ospreys game but I gather that they were outthought and outfought by Leinster who have clearly decided to concentrate on the Heineken Cup so that they have a strong bargaining position when the time comes. Our old friends the Dragons brushed aside Mogliano minnows so are off to a good start in the Amlin Cup. So overall a patchy start in the European competitions with the Scarlets the standout Welsh performers. I still won’t be putting any money on a Welsh winner though!

It's another long away trip for Pooler next week when we visit Narbeth. Another big challenge but I'm sure that the boys will give a good account of themselves.

The queue at the ticket office for the local derby

Fans enjoying the sunshine on the Bank