Pooler Bounce Back

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!