Shortage of Gas for Pontypool

Two rarities for the last few months at Pontypool on the same day – a beautiful sunny afternoon and a home league match for Pontypool RFC. The Pontypool faithful were hoping for another rarity a Pontypool win in the league after a long barren spell. Pooler’s opponents were a strong looking Cardiff team flying high in the league who would present a formidable obstacle.  While Pooler had beaten Cardiff in the SRC Cup they had been well beaten in the corresponding away league fixture.

Cardiff started strongly and showed clear intentions to play fast open rugby in nigh on perfect conditions. Pooler did well to survive the early salvos and even fired a few shots of their own. They nearly opened the scoring after ten minutes when Matthews charged down a kick but the final pass did not go to hand. Pooler did however open the scoring with a penalty from Ford to lead 3-0. This was the only score in the opening quarter.

The second quarter saw a Cardiff onslaught that settled the match. The Pooler lineout misfired and the Cardiff attackers began to find gaps in the Pooler defence. Cardiff played at a pace that Pooler could not live with. The first Cardiff try came from a failed Pooler lineout with the Cardiff backs combining at pace to put Young over. Wilde converted and it was 3-7.

Their second try came five minutes later when scrum half Lloyd supported a searing break to score and with the successful conversion by Wilde it was 3-14.

A couple of minutes later Pooler failed to deal with an awkwardly bouncing Cardiff kick ahead and Young got the touch down in the right corner. The conversion failed but Cardiff were rapidly disappearing over the horizon at 3-19.

Pooler were looking shell-shocked as the away side continued to pick holes in their defence. A fourth try looked inevitable and it came from Hudd with the Cardiff forwards getting in on the act. Wilde converted and Cardiff already had their try bonus point at 3-26. Even worse was to follow, when Cardiff scored their fifth try straight from the kick off. Despite some desperate last ditch defending from Pooler they eventually ran out of numbers for Darwin-Lewis to score Cardiff’s fifth try with a couple of minutes left in the first half. The conversion gave Cardiff a commanding 3-33 lead.

Just as the half was coming to a close, Cardiff looked odds on to score a sixth but a poor pass at the crucial moment meant the ball went loose. Pooler gathered and kicked ahead and it was Pooler outside half Ford who won the chase to score an unlikely try. The conversion failed but Pooler at least had something to give them a glimmer of hope.

The score at halftime was 8-33 and Pooler had been very much second best. It was a half very much in the vein of the second half at Bridgend a couple of weeks before. It was going to take some team discussion at halftime to turn around the fortunes of a dispirited home team.

Things didn’t start well for Pooler in the second half when they conceded an early try when Emanuel forced his way over from short range under the posts. The conversion made it 8-40 and it was just the start to the half that Pooler didn’t want.

Ten minutes into the half, a Pooler kick ahead eluded the Cardiff defence Cole took the final pass to score in the right corner. The conversion failed but at least Pooler were into double figures at 13-40 and a try bonus point might still be a possibility.

In the next ten minutes, Cardiff squashed any hope of an unlikely Pooler come back. Poor tackling saw Hudd score his second try and it was closely followed by a second short range try by Emanuel. The former was converted and Cardiff had racked up the half century at 13-52 with twenty minutes remaining.

The beginning of the fourth quarter saw McDonough score for Pooler after a mazey run leaving defenders in his wake. The try was converted by Meek, on as a replacement, to make the score 20-52 with Pooler in the hunt for a bonus point.

Both benches had now been emptied and it seemed to make the game a bit more evenly contested.  The teams toiled hard to add to their tallies but too many passes went astray in a frustrating final quarter. In the context of what had gone before, rather surprisingly there was no further scoring.

Final score Pontypool 20 : Cardiff 52

Yet another league defeat for Pooler and few if any redeeming features in a one-sided game. Cardiff played with pace and power that became too hot for Pooler to handle especially in the second quarter when the real damage was done. Pooler remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the league table which is highly disappointing for the squad and fans alike.

The next match is way at Aberavon and Pooler will need to improve in all areas if they are to win in what has been a challenging venue over the years.

Come on Pooler!