Home Sweet Home

After two weekends in Twickenham with all the angst that they brought with them, it was good to be back in the serene surroundings of Pontypool Park. Although it was a grey and wet afternoon the autumn colours of the leaves on the trees were a sight to be behold. This really is a beautiful place and it is in stark contrast to the forbidding edifice of HQ at Twickenham. Pontypool have been in good form of late but have always found the visitors from Bridgend Athletic to be worthy opponents. Indeed last season Athletic gave Pooler a bit of a thrashing at the Park so the home side would surely be keen to put the record straight.

From the start, there was a contrast in the tactics employed by the two teams. Pontypool were keen to play a high tempo running game whilst the visitors employed a kicking game coupled with forward drives. Pontypool’s strategy was high risk in the conditions and although it was entertaining stuff there were errors galore. Pontypool eventually opened the scoring with a penalty by Gullis after some pretty breathless attacking. Another attack broke down and Bridgend won a lineout close to the home try line. Their lineout drive was clinically executed and they took a 3-7 lead rather against the run of play.

The Pontypool scrum began to get the ascendancy and with the lineout functioning well the home side had plenty of possession. A combination of stubborn Bridgend Athletic defence and high error count from Pontypool meant that the home side squandered a number of good chances to score. This was pretty frustrating for both players and fans alike. At last the dominance paid off and after some concerted attacking Parry crossed for a try which Gullis converted to give Pooler a narrow 10-7 lead at half time. Too close for comfort, so wise words would be needed in the changing room during the break.

Pontypool substituted both props at half time and the scrum dominance became overwhelming with the away side being pushed back yards. A scrum close to the Athletic line led to a penalty try being awarded and Pooler gaining a useful 17-7 lead. The tale of woe continued for the away side when they were reduced to fourteen men when their right wing Lewis was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on. Another scrum shortly afterwards saw Pontypool awarded second penalty try and what looked an unassailable 24-7 lead.

A sudden rash of injuries in the visitors’ front row led to uncontested scrummaging which nullified Pooler’s most potent weapon as they went in search of the bonus point try with a quarter of the match remaining. There was more frustration as Pooler camped in the Athletic half but could not seem to give the final telling pass to score a try. They made a catalogue of errors as the players seemed to get more and more anxious as time ticked away. At last a searing break by substitute centre Lewis saw him score the coveted fourth try with only a few minutes remaining. Gullis converted from wide out to give a final score of 31-7.

There was much to admire about Pontypool’s approach play and they really should have scored more tries. The conditions were not ideal but the error count was too high at critical moments. The set piece continues to look strong and the loose play of the forwards is highly competitive. All in all a pretty effective team is coming together. It is a really tough league with few easy games so the confidence that winning brings is a crucial factor.

There is no game next weekend due to some minor event at Twickenham but it is Beddau away the following Saturday. Another tough nut to crack but Pooler’s away form is good.

I got home in time to catch the second half of the RWC semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa. The RWC had got to that phase when teams worry more about making mistakes than playing attacking rugby. The heavy rain certainly didn’t help the All Blacks who need to play a high tempo game to be most effective. They gave away far too many penalties against the uncompromising Springboks and nearly paid dearly for it. In the end they just about protected a narrow lead to win 20-18. It was a tense affair but the All Blacks deserved to win as they scored the only two tries of the game. Let us hope that the second semi-final is a bit less dour.

An Australian told me that they are introducing a fifth/sixth playoff into the RWC. It’s called the Six Nations! For this reason I want Argentina to win.

Come on Argentina! Come on Pooler!

PS Spare a thought for Craig Joubert. He doesn’t deserve to be vilified. He’s a good referee who got a really close call wrong. We are all fallible.