Bridging the gap …and some!

The Rugby World Cup is under way and there is a surfeit of rugby for us addicts.

The starter for Saturday’s feast came from Gloucester were the tough and uncompromising Georgia beat a rather lack lustre and disorganised Tonga side. This was treated with mild surprise but did not really prepare us for what was to follow.

The main course was Pontypool’s visit to the Welfare Ground in Newbridge which has been the scene of many a fiercely contested local derby over the years. Newbridge have started the season well with two victories and Pooler were anxious to bounce back from last week’s disappointing showing against Swansea.

Pooler, inspired by the return of the combative Nash at flanker, went off at a cracking pace and soon had the home side under all sorts of pressure. The pressure was quickly converted into points by two penalty goals converted by Hancock.

Newbridge gradually found their feet and began to dominate possession and territory. Their reward came when they were awarded a penalty for an offence at a ruck that closed the gap to 3-6. The penalty was accompanied by a yellow card for Pooler lock Jones. To make matters worse the Pontypool injury jinx continued when centre Madgwick was stretchered off with an ankle injury.

Despite the disruption, Pontypool surprisingly enjoyed a purple patch. It started when Newbridge made an awful hash of a lineout on their line and Pooler number eight Williams pounced to score. Then Nash broke from a scrum to put Mills in for a try near the posts. Both tries were converted and the away side had suddenly opened up a healthy 3-20 lead. Pontypool were further hampered by the loss of flanker Rusby-Davies through injury. Newbridge threatened briefly but the away side held out without too much trouble to maintain their lead at half time.

The second half saw more Newbridge pressure but the powerful Pooler scrum and their ferocious work at the breakdown kept them at bay. The referee lost patience with the continual offending of the home front row at the scrum and there was a yellow card for Newbridge prop Williams. A boxing match between Scott Williams in the blue corner and Garin Harris in the red corner resulted in them both being shown red cards. This meant that Newbridge were now pretty unlikely to be able to close the gap in the scores as we went into the final quarter. The home backs didn’t seem to think so and attempted to run the ball from behind their own goal line with disastrous consequences. A Pontypool scrum on the Newbridge line resulted and inevitably Pooler drove the scrum over the try line for Williams to touch down for his second try. The try went unconverted but the score line at 3-25 left far too much for Newbridge to do.

Pooler took their foot off the throttle and Newbridge took advantage to score a converted try closing the gap to 10-25. Pontypool were stung into action but squandered a chance of a bonus point when a lineout on the Newbridge line went wrong. The home side had the last say with a consolation try from the last play of the match to leave the final score at 17-25.

This was a strong and spirited display from Pontypool with the return of Nash at flanker and Gullis at fullback major plusses. The pack seems to be coming together as a formidable unit both at set piece and in the loose. The backs seem to have potential but the constant disruption by the lengthy injury list means that we have not yet managed to put together a settled combination.

Next week sees the visit of reigning champions Bargoed to Pontypool Park and a chance to gain revenge for two heavy defeats last season.

So back to the RWC and a chance to watch South Africa tune up with a comfortable victory over Japan – or so we thought! Japan shocked the rugby world by pulling off a last gasp victory over the mighty Boks. This was not a fluke - the Japanese thoroughly deserved to win as they matched the illustrious opponents in all aspects of the game.

I remember watching Japan lose by 145 points to New Zealand in the RWC in South Africa in 1995 – they have certainly come a long way since then. About ten years ago I went to a university match in Japan and was blown away by the skills of the players. Yes, the Japanese have been technically good for a while now but have always been hampered by their generally small stature. Now the home grown players are noticeably chunkier and they are augmented by the judicious use of South Sea Island beef. The result is that they are far more competitive as the South Africans found out to their cost. The South Africans did the classic thing and set out to out-muscle the Japanese with their version of “Warrenball”. It worked to an extent but every time you thought they were going to pull away the Japanese pegged them back with well organised attacks. At the end of the game a lot of people were shaking their heads in disbelief. The outpouring of joy from the Japanese players and fans will live long in the memory.

I did watch the opening match between England and Fiji on Friday and the final score certainly flattered England. There was a period in the second half when England were certainly rattled and I thought, “Maybe just maybe…”. The strength of the England bench told in the end and the introduction of the two Pontypool boys was decisive. England did not really look invincible that’s for sure. For the next England game (which happens to be against Wales), I do hope that the ITV bring a bit more balance to their panel of experts. It was a bit tedious listening to Clive, Jonny and Laurence all saying the same things.

The astonishing Japanese victory now puts a bit of a different light on who might play who in the quarter finals. It very much depends on whether the Boks can recover from the shock and whether the Japanese can back up their performance against Scotland and Samoa.

I find the format of five teams in each pool a bit strange with the huge disparity it brings in the length of the intervals between matches. Wales have only four rest days between the England game and facing Fiji but then double that between the Fiji and Australia games. You wonder why they can’t have an even number of teams in a pool playing on the same day.

After the excitement of Newbridge and Brighton, I needed a drink and didn’t manage to see anything of the French victory over Italy or indeed the highlights of the Irish hammering of Canada. There is a limit to how much a man can take in one day.

And so to today and Wales have to face Uruguay. This surely can’t be another shock can it? I don’t even want to think about it.

Come on Wales and come on Pooler.