Northern Delights

The rugby season ended for Pontypool with an away match against RGC 1404 in Colwyn bay. I didn’t make the trip and as a consequence clutched my tablet to my chest and waited anxiously for the tweets to come in with regular updates. At the same time I was watching Judgement Day from the Millennium Stadium on the telly.

The match in North Wales turned out to be a very low scoring affair and I could feel the tension as Pooler defended a narrow lead in what seemed like an endless second half. There was much relief when the news that Pooler had won 6-7 was finally confirmed. An excellent victory that gives us the double over the Gogs. Pontypool will now finish in fifth place in the Championship which is one place below last season’s fourth place. The final points tally of 77 is 6 less than the 83 achieved in 2013-14.

When I reflect on the season, it is one that has been dogged by inconsistency. When Pontypool were good they were very good but when they were bad they were pretty awful. The heavy defeat in Bargoed in the first match soon shattered a lot of the usual pre-season optimism. This set Bargoed up for a glorious unbeaten run which put them streets of the rest ahead all season. It was certainly a shock to learn that Bargoed suffered their first defeat yesterday when Merthyr took their proud record. Swansea were the other form side and after Pooler’s agonising defeat at St Helens they soon pulled clear to occupy second place.

This left the rest of the league fighting for the minor places and until Blackwood’s demise there were few easy matches for Pooler. Since four of Pontypool’s ten defeats were against Bargoed and Swansea you can see that they gave as good as they got against the other teams. Long term injuries to the influential Dyckhoff and Sparks certainly did not help their cause and I hope both are progressing well. The highlights of the season for me were probably the home wins against RGC 1404 and Glynneath when Pooler really showed what they could do. Of course there were lowlights too but I prefer to erase them from my mind.

So, a frustrating season which was certainly not good for the blood pressure at times but for all that enjoyable in a masochistic sort of way. I would like to express my appreciation for the management, players and sponsors who provide me with my Saturday afternoon fix.

As a long time Pooler fan, you get used to the highs and lows and you never give up hope. Maybe next season will be the one!

So to Judgement Day and the double header at the Millennium Stadium. Ticket sales of around 50,000 can’t be bad and shows what can happen if the prices are kept low. I assume that season ticket holders for the “home teams” do not have to pay for their tickets but it surely must have made money. Of course when you have two matches not everyone watches both but there seemed to be a decent atmosphere with the roof closed.

The first match pitted the Blues against the Ospreys and surprisingly the Blues had the better of the first half although the Ospreys kept well in touch with a last minute try. In the second half the Ospreys played some great rugby and romped to a bonus point victory. The Blues never gave up trying and scored a couple of tries themselves including one in the last minute which gave a final score of 23-31. Both sides showed a refreshing willingness to run the ball at every opportunity and although there were a lot of mistakes it was pretty entertaining stuff.

The second match was the Dragons versus the Scarlets and it was pretty similar to the previous match in the way that it unfolded. The Dragons had the better of much of the first half but the Scarlets seized a couple of opportunities right at the end of the half to snatch a lead. The first Scarlets’ try should have been disallowed as the referee got in the way of the Dragons’ defence but the second try was a cracker with Scott Williams scoring following a great break by Liam Williams. As in the first game, the West Wales outfit took control in the second half to secure a bonus point win 10-29. This game was also played with the same attacking intent as the first game and the young Dragons backs looked pretty sharp at times.

For all the good rugby played and the large crowd, the reality is that the Dragons and the Blues currently occupy ninth and tenth positions in the Pro 12 with only the Italian sides below them. With the Ospreys in fourth and the Scarlets in sixth place it is hardly anything to celebrate. So my judgement would be that the Welsh Regions have undeniably underperformed this season.

So now we go into aestivation ready to emerge with batteries recharged for the challenges of next season and the Rugby World Cup. Would it be too much to hope for….