I have to confess that due to a long lunch in
Birmingham and the vagaries of the rail system I did not manage to get to the
Park yesterday evening to watch Pontypool take on Swansea. I did, however,
catch it on the TV. It is a shame that after a few days of glorious weather
that the rain fell during the match.
As for the match, Pooler played up the slope in the
first half and had much the better of the opening exchanges. The backs looked
sharp and the forwards drove powerfully. Rhodri Cole playing at scrum half on
permit was a good link between forwards and backs and kicked well. It was no
surprise when Pooler took the lead after seven minutes through a try from Robey
that was converted by Meek (7-0). This was quickly followed by a Meek penalty
to increase the lead to 10-0.
The fortunes of the match then swung dramatically as
for the next twenty minutes Swansea dominated possession and territory. Pooler
were guilty of conceding penalties but Swansea played with cohesion and not a
little flair with full back Houston, in particular, a really slippery runner.
In this period, Swansea scored three converted tries as they exerted immense
pressure on a committed Pooler defence. The tries from Temblett, Edwards and
Jones were all converted by Phillips and the match had swung very much Swansea’s
way (10-21).
Pooler needed to respond and a penalty from Meek
stemmed the flow (13-21). The last few minutes of the first half belonged with
Pooler attacking ferociously through their forwards. Swansea were giving away
penalties and that led to a yellow card for their tight head prop Thompson.
This gave the Pooler pack just the edge that they needed and substitute hooker
Chapman touched down after a lineout drive. Meek converted and at half time
Pooler were just one point behind at 20-21.
Early in the second half, Swansea took off their right
wing to allow for a prop to come on as a yellow card replacement. Their lack of
cover wide out on the right was expertly exploited who spotted Marcus Jones in
acres of space. His accurate kick was fielded by Jones who raced fifty metres
to score under the posts. A conversion from Meek and Pooler were back in the
lead at 27-21.
The momentum was now with Pooler but Swansea still
looked dangerous and it was in fact Swansea that scored next through a penalty
from Phillips (27-24) . Pooler then took charge with the forwards gaining the
upper hand with Morgan Allen particularly prominent with his powerful ball
carrying. It was Matthews, on as a substitute, who drove over to score Pooler’s
bonus point try which was again converted by Meek (34-24). Five minutes later,
Ieuan Jones added a fifth try when he drove over from short range. With the Meek
conversion Pooler had surely secured the victory at 41-24.
Swansea did not give up and they strove hard to get a
bonus point. They were assisted in this by a yellow card for Pooler flanker
Davies. After considerable Swansea pressure, substitute hooker Austin touched
down at the end of a forward drive. The try was converted by Rees and Swansea had
their try bonus point (41-31) with only a couple of minutes remaining. There
was no further scoring so the final score was Pontypool 41 : Swansea 31.
A good game with Pooler doing well to bounce back from
the period of Swansea dominance in the first half. This of course was also on
the back of that tough game against Newport on Sunday. Scrum half Cole did really
well considering he was only drafted into the team at such short notice but it
was the pack that ground out the important tries to secure victory.
Pooler have now surely guaranteed at least fifth place
in the league. Fourth place still looks a tough ask but all they can do is try
and win their last two games against Aberavon (a) and Cardiff (h) and hope that
other results go their way.
Next up for Pooler is Aberavon away next Thursday
evening in another televised match.
Come on Pooler!
