A Curate’s Easter Egg

There cannot be many more scenic places to watch rugby than Pontypool Park on a sunny Spring day with the trees in full blossom. It really would be a shame to fence it in to satisfy the WRU and to keep out those mindless vandals. You can make up your own mind if they are one and the same! Our Easter fare was a local derby against Newbridge who have been serious rivals over the years. The two encounters so far this season have both been won by the away side so we hoped that that was not an omen.

Newbridge had the better of the opening exchanges and looked the more lively as they attacked down the slope. It wasn’t long before they opened the scoring with a well taken try by their hooker under the posts. They continued to have the upper hand as Pontypool, to the dismay of the crowd, persisted in kicking away the possession that they had. The loss of lock Jones disrupted the home side’s lineout which only added to the frustration. Fortunately for Pooler, Newbridge squandered some good chances to score through inaccurate passing. The home side plugged way and it seemed that every time they managed to cross the halfway line they were awarded a long range penalty opportunity. Gullis converted three of them expertly and the teams went in at half time with Pooler holding an unlikely 9-7 lead.

Pontypool opened the second half with far more purpose. The crowd groaned when they seemed to kick possession away yet again but this time the wind held the ball back and Pooler centre Hales caught the ball and took off to score in the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful but they had opened up a useful 14-7 lead.

It was time for the Gullis show, he followed up a penalty goal with a fine individual try He made a break up the touchline before kicking ahead and gathering the ball as it crossed the line. His successful conversion left the score line 24-7 with Pontypool well in control. There was further blow for Newbridge when they were reduced to 14 men by a yellow card. This was the cue for Pooler to play their best rugby and they scored two more converted tries to secure victory and a bonus point. Both tries were scored by forwards - Williams scoring wide out after some good combined play and prop Brown bursting through from the Newbridge 22 to score under the posts.

With the score at 38-7, Pooler seemed to take their foot off the gas and fall off tackles. The away side took full advantage of this and scored two tries to leave the final score at 38-19. This sloppiness at the end from Pontypool rather took the edge of an excellent second half performance.

Two victories in four days is a great effort from Pontypool and must surely put them in confident mood for the visit to Tata Steel next Saturday.

So to Judgement Day at the Millennium Stadium on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately there was not really going to be much decided on the fateful day. It has been a season steeped in mediocrity for all our regions so only the Ospreys have an outside chance of making the playoffs. Ospreys and Scarlets look set to finish fifth and sixth respectively in the league and so qualify for Son of Heineken.

The first match was more like Grudgement day with a lot of stuff happening off the ball. The Scarlets’ Liam Williams is a curate’s egg of a player. After his brilliance for Wales against Scotland, he revealed his impetuous side and really should have been sent off for his challenge on Cuthbert early in the match. He eventually did get a red card for a second yellow card after a professional foul. In the same ruck Copeland got his marching orders for kicking Williams’ head. The Blues just about deserved to win a close scrappy game and showed a lot more appetite for the challenge than the last time I watched them when they rolled over meekly against the Ospreys.

The second match was more like Nudgement Day with the Ospreys dominant in terms of possession but knocking on the ball on countless occasions. The Dragons tackled bravely and scored the first try but at the death conceded a penalty try from a short-range scrum that decided the game.

The games were absorbing and hard fought even if they were scrappy. A crowd of 30000 was in attendance so the event must be considered a success.

Rumour has it that Bristol will apply to be the fifth Welsh region if they fail to win promotion to the English Premiership.

So a curate’s egg of a weekend but a Pooler victory is always a good thing.