Bright Sparks

The weather was truly miserable in Bargoed in stark contrast to sub-tropical Pontypool Park the previous week. It was wet and windy and certainly not a day for free flowing rugby. This didn’t bode well for Pontypool who had suffered at the hands of the Bargoed pack in the home fixture earlier in the season.

Bargoed played with the wind at their backs in the first half and quickly camped out in the Pooler 22. Pooler managed to hold out by the skin of their teeth and certainly looked in determined mood. It was clear that this was not going to be a high scoring game as the slippery ball resulted in countless handling errors particularly by the home side. The scrappiness actually seemed to suit Pooler who fought tenaciously for every loose ball. The only score of the first half was a penalty goal by Bargoed and we were just thinking that 3-0 at half time playing against the wind was not a bad position. Then, disaster, a scuffle near the Pooler line led to Taylor being dismissed for a head butt. The away side were down the 14 men for the rest of the game. Things didn’t look quite so rosy.

Pontypool started the second half purposefully and quickly started to harry Bargoed into mistakes. The numbers were evened up by a Bargoed yellow card and Gullis brought the scores level from the ensuing penalty. The away side started to gain the ascendancy and use the wind well with some excellent tactical kicking that pushed the home side back into their 22. Pooler had the outstanding player on the park in number 8 Sparks who seemed to be everywhere. He managed to control the ball at the rather unstable scrums and carried strongly as well as playing a full part in Pontypool’s robust defence.

No sooner had Bargoed returned to 15 players, than they lost their scrum half to another yellow card so the loss of Taylor was not as crucial as it might have been. The away side seemed to be the more likely to score and their pressure led to another penalty from Gullis which put them into the lead as the game moved into the final quarter. Another fracas led to two more yellow cards, one for each side, and we were down to thirteen a side. The away side’s lead was still precarious but another penalty goal gave them breathing space at 3-9. The home side threw everything at Pooler as they regained numerical superiority but they came up against a brick wall. Pooler were determined to win this game and every player was busting a gut to make sure that it happened. Right at the end of the game Pooler wing Hurley made good ground down the left wing before kicking the ball ahead. Dykhoff won the chase to the line to score wide out. Gullis slotted over an excellent conversion to leave the final score 3-16.

This really was an excellent win in difficult conditions. It was a triumph for team work and unstinting commitment. Yes Sparks was outstanding, but it would be unfair to single him out in what was Pooler’s best team performance of the season.

When I had managed to dry out, I watched a bit of the Heineken Cup on the TV. The Leicester outside half, Williams, looked a class act and he’s Welsh. We need to get him involved with the Welsh team pronto if Leicester rate him higher than Flood. The Ulster v Saracens game was rendered much more even by the sending off of the Ulster full back and a catalogue of injuries to Ulster’s star players. It seemed to me that the sending off was slightly harsh. I’m not really sure what you are meant to do if someone jumps straight at you with his knees up. It seems that you are a protected species if you jump for the ball rather than try to catch the ball with both feet on the ground. Still the Saracens won in the end despite a tremendous effort from Ulster.

The highly charged Heineken games were in stark contrast to the Dragons v Edinburgh. It hard to see how the Welsh Regions are ever going to dine at the highest table with the resources they have at their disposal.

So for Pooler it’s Tondu away next week. It’s quite tight in the race for the minor places in the Championship and with a strong finish we can move up significantly. Congratulations to Ebbw Vale on winning the title. Let’s hope the WRU don’t do the dirty again.