Matches of the Days

You will be glad to know that my niece’s wedding went off very well on Saturday and my stomach was suitably acidic and my head suitably bilious the following morning. The weather was glorious which really is a bonus in late September. Enjoyable as the wedding was, it did mean that I was banned from watching Pontypool play at Ystalyfera. A shame really as the last time I was in that neck of the woods I was playing for Mountain Ash Grammar School Under 13s against Ystalyfera Grammar School Under 13s. In this wonderful modern technological age, however, I was able to covertly keep up with Pooler’s progress via twitter. After a tough tussle, I am glad to say Pooler ran out winners 15-38 securing that all important bonus point. I gather it was far from plain sailing with Pontypool having to work really hard for their win. 

So that is two wins out of two and the maximum ten points put Pooler at the top of the league. Even at this early stage, it is apparent that there are some tough cookies in the Championship if the scores are anything to go by. Pontypool will face two tough opponents over the next two Saturdays with Neath at home and Narberth away. These matches will give a clearer picture of just how competitive the league will be this season. I am sure everyone in the Championship will be gunning for Pontypool so it is definitely game on.

I have managed to watch a fair bit of rugby from the Rugby World Cup although I did miss the All Blacks victory over the Springboks which would appear to be the pick of the crop so far. I have just watched Wales vs Georgia and I am left not really knowing what to think about the performance. I guess before the game I would have been delighted to have been offered a 43-14 bonus point win for Wales against a tough Georgia side. Unusually for them, Wales did the damage in the first half with some smart rugby and then found the very physical Georgians a real handful in the second half. Still a win is a win and we don’t often score six tries these days. We should be happy even if Wales will need to raise their game a level or two if they are to overcome Australia on Sunday. There will be plenty of bumps and bruises for sure but hopefully no serious injuries to the players. My heart sank when Ken Owens went down in the second half but he seemed to be OK even if he left the field shortly afterwards. I think I would have made Tipuric man of the match rather than Ball – he was still going flat out in the last minutes with his distinctive blue scrum cap appearing all over the field.

The first set of matches in the RWC is now nearing completion and no real shock results to date with the winners being the teams most people would have predicted. The nearest thing to a surprise was just how poor Scotland were against a strong looking Irish team.  The closest match that I watched was France edging out Argentina in a match that could have gone either way as the Pumas stormed back after an indifferent opening half.

It is hard work for a retired man to have to get up so early in the morning and switch the TV on and it goes on for six weeks! Rest assured I will strive manfully to get through it. At least there is no clash with Pontypool matches.

Come on Pooler!

Come on Wales!