Oh Happy Days!

By all accounts, I unfortunately missed Pontypool’s best performance of the season where they secured a hard fought bonus point victory over Cardiff Met University at Pontypool Park. It sounds as if it was a real ding dong affair with the lead changing hands three times before Pooler power put the game to bed 26-14. The Pooler tries were scored by Attwell, Usher and Coundley plus a penalty try from a scrum. The students proved the kind of opposition that befitted their second place position in the Championship and scored two converted tries themselves. Well done Pooler and good luck to Cardiff Met in the BUCS.

Where was I you might ask? Well I was in Cardiff for the Wales v South Africa match. Rather like Pooler, Wales gave their best all round performance of the season in another bruising encounter. The Welsh attack fired in the first half and the Welsh defence was inspired in the second half. Wales shrugged off the late withdrawal of Lydiate and the early loss of Moriarty through a head injury with the back row, led by Ellis Jenkins, playing wonderfully well. The Welsh got off to a great start and were soon fourteen points to the good with Francis and Williams scoring well-worked tries. 

From then on, it was all about the Welsh defence as the Springboks attacked. True the South Africans did score a try and did manage to close the gap to 14-11 but the Welsh defence was in no mood to allow them to score again. Dan Biggar came on in the fourth quarter and added a measure of control and struck two well-judged penalties to give Wales the breathing space they craved. The final score was 20-11 with a thoroughly deserved victory bringing the Autumn Series to a close. The one dark cloud on a great day for the Welsh was the nasty looking knee injury to man of the match Ellis Jenkins just before the final whistle. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Wales have won all four of the autumn internationals for the first time and cemented their place as number three in the world. This makes great reading doesn’t it. The Southern Hemisphere giants have had a tough autumn with Ireland, Wales and England giving them plenty to think about before the Rugby World Cup next autumn. It has also set up what looks to be a highly competitive Six Nations with Ireland surely clear favourites. The home games for Wales against England and Ireland will more than likely determine the outcome of the championship but Scotland and France cannot be excluded from the equation. This is really something to look forward to o those cold days in February and March.

Something else to look forward to is getting back to watch Pontypool and their battle to return to the Premiership. They are certainly in a very strong position in the Championship having won ten out of ten so far. They have amassed 49 points from the 10 games with Ystrad Rhondda in second place with 41 points from 11 games and Cardiff Met are third with 38 also from 11 games. Play-off watch shows that the fifth from bottom position in the Premiership is currently occupied by Cross Keys but there looks to be a real dogfight developing between the bottom seven clubs with the outcome probably not decided until the final match

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Next week Pontypool take on Ystrad Rhondda at Pontypool Park. Since being promoted to the Championship this season, Ystrad Rhondda have performed brilliantly and have only lost twice and now proudly occupy second place. Pooler’s visit to Ystrad Rhondda for the first match of the season was quite a battle with Pooler mighty glad to escape with a victory. Pontypool will need to be at their best again next Saturday that is for sure if they are to keep their unbeaten run going.

Come on Pooler!