Ebbw Vale in the pink

Pontypool welcomed high-flying Ebbw vale to a dank and cold Pontypool Park yesterday. I think most of the Pooler supporters saw this as a damage limitation exercise but also a good chance to measure the progress that the team had made over the season so far. Unfortunately the match demonstrated the considerable gulf between the two sides as Ebbw Vale stormed to a comprehensive 6-44 victory.

Ebbw Vale started the brighter and not just because of their strip that was vivid pink with light blue trimmings. For the first ten minutes or so, Pooler could not get their hands on their ball as Vale played powerful phase rugby. Pooler defended well and managed to protect their try line but conceded two penalties and were behind 0-6. These looked decidedly bleak for the home team but they found inspiration and for the next 20 minutes gave as good as they got and managed to draw level with two penalty goals. Was an upset on the cards? Not in Ebbw Vale's eyes and their powerful forwards began to turn the screw particularly in the scrum. Pooler were back on the defensive and the vistors' stronger and more cohesisve play led to two tries the second on the stroke of half time. The score at the interval stood at 6-18 which was perhaps a little flattering to the away side.

The second half proved to be very much one way traffic as Pooler wilted under the incessant pressure from Ebbw Vale. The end could not come quickly enough for the home supporters as the vistors seemed to score at will and racked up 26 points with no reply from Pooler. Tyler and Dyckoff tried hard for Pooler but there was no stemming the pink tide.

Ebbw Vale were stronger in all departments than Pontypool and the home side were left with no illusions about the gulf between them. As they say the league table never lies.

Ebbv Vale v Pontypool