So near and yet so far

Pontypool RFC visited Swansea RFC for a Championship match that kicked off at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. This rather unusual kick off time was to accommodate S4C who wanted to televise the match live. It did seem a strange choice with Stoke City playing Swansea City and Toulon playing the Scarlets live on TV at the same time.

The weather at St Helens was unsettled to say the least with a strong breeze off the sea and heavy rain at times. Pooler needed to put the traumatic loss to Cardiff Met the previous weekend behind them and put up a strong showing against one of the favourites for promotion.

Swansea enjoyed the benefit of the wind in the first half but it was Pooler who started the stronger with some impressive driving play. This eventually led to the opening score of the match when Thorley scored after some powerful work by the pack. The conversion attempt by Hancock failed but vividly demonstrated the strength of the wind. Swansea were stung into action and the game was fiercely contested with the away side giving as good as they got. A Pontypool lineout close to the halfway line went astray and Swansea seized the loose ball. Some excellent combined play from the turnover saw hooker Guest score and with successful conversion the home side led 7-5. A successful penalty by Thomas opened up the lead to 10-5. Pooler failed to capitalise on a yellow card for Swansea’s lock Scanlon just before halftime but were still well in contention. A 5 point deficit with the wind favouring them in the second half was certainly not too much to overcome.

Pontypool pressed hard in the second half and were eventually rewarded with a successful penalty from Hancock that closed the gap to 10-8 and Pontypool looked the stronger team. The Pontypool forwards were rampaging and with Swansea again down to 14 men following a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on looked bound to score. They actually got over the Swansea line but Parry lost the ball in the act of scoring. The away side unfortunately lost the influential Sparks to an ankle injury but they still kept up their momentum. Pooler were presented with a try when the Swansea full back slipped in the act of making a clearance kick from behind his own try line. The ball fell kindly for the away side with Haile scoring wide out. The conversion attempt missed narrowly but Pooler now deservedly held the lead at 10-13. Pooler seemed the more likely side to win when Swansea received yet another yellow card following a brilliant driving maul from the away side that must have travelled at least 30m down field.

Swansea had other ideas and came storming back and Pontypool wing Laing was driven back by their forwards after making a good catch from a high kick. A penalty resulted from the ensuing ruck and Swansea kicked the ball deep into the Pontypool 22. Pooler held the initial Swansea thrusts but then lost Edwards to a yellow card for an offence at a ruck. This was just the opportunity the Whites needed and Fox forced his way over for a try and with the successful conversion led 17-13.

Pontypool were not content with a losing bonus point and tried to run out of their 22 but an ambitious looped pass from Hancock was intercepted by the Swansea wing Thomas who raced over to score. The conversion was unsuccessful which left the final score at 22-13 which was rather flattering for the home side.

Of course Pontypool have every reason to be disappointed by losing a game that arguably they deserved to win. For long stretches of the match they were the dominant force but somehow they didn’t manage to close it out. Swansea are a good team and showed their strength of character in coming back so strongly at the end. This was an excellent advertisement for the Championship and Pontypool shouldn’t be too downhearted as I am sure that they will play worse than this and win.

I have watched a good deal of rugby from the couch this weekend with the opening round of the new European competitions the focus. The Welsh regions acquitted themselves pretty well with only the Scarlets losing and that away at Champions Cup favourites Toulon. It was particularly pleasing to see the Dragons record an excellent victory in Stade Francais. The other notable victory was the thumping that Glasgow gave Bath. In fact the Pro 12 clubs did not suffer badly in comparison to the moneybags of France and England but of course, as the injury lists mount, the overall squad strength will be the telling factor.

The scrum remains an issue in professional rugby with an inordinate amount of time lost for collapsing and resetting. The trouble is that games are often won and lost by the referee’s interpretation of what is happening in the scrum. I, for one, hate to see all the backs running over to a scrum for a back-slapping session when their team wins a penalty.

Well done Pooler for running Swansea so close - now let’s get back on the winning trail against Tata Steel next week.