Things Are Getting Interesting

The results from Saturday’s round of Welsh Championship fixtures could not have gone much worse for Pontypool. Not only did they succumb to a four try defeat at fourth placed RGC 1404, but fifth placed Bargoed beat Championship pacemakers Merthyr. This closes up the gaps at the top of the league quite significantly. Promotion is still in Pooler’s hands but they will really need to be on their mettle from now on as RGC 1404 and Bargoed are sure to finish strongly. The one bright spot is that Bargoed entertain RCG 1404 next Saturday so one of our two rivals will suffer.

I didn’t venture to North Wales but from what I can gather Pooler came up against a strong and well coached outfit in RGC 1404. They were well in contention for three quarters of the game or so but the Gogs finished the stronger running in two tries to secure their bonus point and deny Pontypool theirs. It doesn’t get any easier for Pooler with the next match the visit of Merthyr who will surely be smarting after their defeat at Bargoed.

I was restless on Saturday afternoon and actually decided to go up to Bargoed to run my eye over our rivals. It was pretty chilly, I can tell you, with an icy wind blowing down the pitch. The home side played with the wind in the first half and were clearly on a mission. Right from the first whistle they went at Merthyr like rabid dogs. Merthyr were given no time at all on the ball as they were engulfed by the Bargoed equivalent of the Saracens’ “wolf pack”. Bargoed scored a converted try within the first few minutes and it was all Merthyr could do to keep them from scoring several more tries in the opening quarter. Bargoed bullied and harried and the away side could not gain any measure of control despite a strong scrum. The home side’s line speed in defence was remarkable which rendered the visiting backs impotent.

While I had been watching Bargoed warming up, I noted that they were doing drills simulating the choke tackle. In the game they used this to devastating effect and forced turnover after turnover as the Merthyr body positions were too high when entering contact. As you might expect, there were a few flare-ups as tempers frayed but a yellow card for each side seemed to calm things down. Bargoed did manage one more try in the first half to lead 12-0. The strong wind would be behind Merthyr in the second half so they still had a good chance of staging a comeback.

Surprisingly Merthyr did not seem to know what to do to take advantage of the wind. They spurned a series of kickable penalties as they seemed to think that they would be able to drive over from a lineout. It was pretty obvious to all watching that Bargoed were in no mood to be driven back. They knew exactly what they had to do which was much more of the same as in the first half. It took Merthyr almost half an hour to find a way through when they finally managed to outflank the home defence. The conversion missed narrowly but this would surely set up a grandstand finish with the score 12-5.

There was no way Bargoed were going to lose this match and the last ten minutes belonged to them as they worked their way upfield to batter the Merthyr line. For some reason, the away team seemed reluctant to kick the ball which with the wind behind would have seemed to be an obvious ploy.  Time ran out and Bargoed had gained a precious victory. On this sort of form you would not expect them to lose too many more matches this season.

Bargoed showed admirably how to beat the much vaunted Merthyr side. It was all about pressure and squeezing the life out of them. Given time on the ball, I am sure that Merthyr could unpick most defences but the blitz defence and the choke tackle coupled with a small pitch made sure that they didn’t have that opportunity. Bargoed competed fiercely at the breakdown and the referee’s rather liberal interpretation of the laws left Merthyr with really slow ball to deal with if they had any ball at all.

How to beat Bargoed in this mood is a much more difficult question. First and foremost you need to stand up to the tremendous pressure and physicality that Meades and company are sure to employ. Even a strong side like Merthyr seemed incapable of doing that. Merthyr didn’t seem to employ a kicking game which was difficult to understand particularly with the wind behind – you need to counter the blitz defence somehow. Their other major weapon is the choke tackle which resulted in so many turnovers and knocked the stuffing out of Merthyr. I guess countering this is about support play and body angles.

So the game is afoot! Pontypool need to bounce back against Merthyr as the run-in will be about momentum and Bargoed and RGC 1404 certainly seem to be hitting their straps. It looks like a tense and exciting end to the season.

We have the little matter of England v Wales as a distraction next weekend. This will be a major challenge for Wales against an England side who have gained in confidence and are even beginning to show their customary arrogance – it didn’t take long! We have to stop Billy V – no one has managed it yet so Lydiate and Faletau have a job to do. Success or failure might decide the outcome of the match.

Come on Wales!

Come on Pooler!