Wind of Change

A visit to local rivals Newbridge is a good way to measure the progress that Pontypool have made this season. It has never been an easy place to get a positive result as Pooler found out last season when they were roundly trounced. We anticipated a fiercely contested local derby and were not disappointed.

Pontypool won the toss and elected to play with the strong breeze that was blowing up the valley. They started in a similar vein to the way that they played against Tondu with the backs looking sharp and wing James soon crossed in the corner for an excellent try. Mills converted expertly from the touch line and the away team took a 0-7 lead. As you would expect, Newbridge were stung into action and although they had plenty of possession the Pontypool defence looked strong and they were able to win turnovers and use the wind to send the home team back into their half. In the set pieces the Pooler scrum seemed to have the edge although the wind made the lineouts a bit of a lottery. From a scrum won against the head, Pontypool attacked at pace and after some incisive back play Thorley scored a try that was converted by Mills. Newbridge continued to have the lion’s share of possession but the away defence stood firm even when they were reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of Organ. With the last play of the first half, the Pontypool backs had another chance to show what they could do and James crossed after some strong running from full back Taylor. The conversion failed but at half time Pontypool held a useful 0-19 lead. The first half had been an object lesson in clinical finishing.

The second half was a bad tempered affair and was dominated both in terms of territory and possession by Newbridge. The strong breeze of the first half increased in ferocity and the away side were pinned for long periods in their own half. Frustration frequently boiled over and the two scrum halves were yellow-carded for fighting before Pooler lock Davies was red-carded for rashly kicking out at an opponent. Newbridge turned their domination into points and scored three good tries but only converted one of them. This left the score at 17-19 and it looked more than likely that the rampant home side would take the spoils in the closing minutes. The weather had deteriorated with torrential rain in addition to the gale force wind blowing into the away team’s faces making it even more difficult for Pontypool to clear their lines. Somehow Pooler managed to hold on against all the odds in a desperate finish.

This was character-building stuff for Pontypool and no one can doubt their commitment and will to win but ill-discipline could so easily have cost them the match. A top three finish in the league would be an excellent outcome for the season and it should be possible if they can keep playing with this amount of heart and get the backs running at the opposition. Pooler have two home games coming up against Tata Steel and Beddau. Let’s hope we can finish 2013 in style.

There is a wind of change blowing through Welsh rugby but I am none the wiser of where it will take us. Part of me just wishes that the regions would go and play in England and let the WRU concentrate their efforts and money on the development of players through the traditional club structure in Wales. This would leave something like the situation with football but you really wouldn’t want the national rugby team to follow the path of the national football team. I just hope someone manages to sort something out soon as the Heineken Cup has again produced some great matches this weekend. 

Unfortunately unless the Blues can produce a minor miracle at Toulon, I fear the only Welsh interest in the latter stages of this season’s competition will be whether Nigel Owens referees the final and how many pints they sell in the Millennium Stadium in May.

On a positive note, there does still seem to be plenty of young talent playing for the regions and they are certainly being blooded as the established players emigrate. If only there was an under-21 Heineken Cup (perhaps the Shandy Cup!) we might have a chance of winning something.

Does anyone know if there is a rugby equivalent of ACAS or do we need to ask Tony Blair to sort it out?

  

Normal Service Is Resumed

It was a joy to get away from the angst and over-analysis that characterises the Autumn internationals and return to normality. Normality in this case is watching Pontypool locking horns with Tondu at Pontypool Park. We didn’t have to worry whether our defence was blitz, drift, or scramble and fret about gain line success and tackle counts. Here we just had two sides going at each other with all out attacking intent and it was all the more enjoyable for that. The quality of the game was certainly improved by an excellent referee on an exchange visit from England who helped the game to flow. All too often in rugby these days the referee has the ability to kill a game as a spectacle.

Pooler playing up the slope started the match with attacking verve and looked set to blow Tondu away. They quickly established a 13 point lead through a well executed converted try and two penalties. The home half backs were controlling the game skilfully and it looked ominous for the visitors. As often happens though, Pooler relaxed and Tondu seized the opportunity to show what they could do. Whilst Pooler’s attacking threat came from the backs, for Tondu it was a strong driving maul. The second 20 minutes really belonged to the away side and they dominated territory and possession. It was no more than they deserved that they closed the gap to 3 points with a converted try and a penalty. With the score 13-10 at the end of an enjoyable first half, the result seemed to be very much in the balance.

The second half, however, turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair with Pontypool firmly in control. At times they played some scintillating rugby with Mills, having one of his best games for Pontypool, at the heart of things. Their most potent attacking weapon was the strong attacking thrusts by Taylor from full back who really was too hot for Tondu to handle. An early yellow card for Tondu seemed to give Pooler all the impetus they needed and they ran in three more converted tries and a penalty to run out convincing victors 40-10. Tondu never gave up and deserved something for their efforts but the home defence held firm despite some late pressure.

It was good to see Pontypool back to their best after a shaky period and let’s hope that they can carry it forward to next week when they take on the “Blue Pigs” of Newbridge in what is sure to be a tough local derby.

The Heineken Cup saga goes on and on and it now seems inevitable that it will be Welsh rugby that will suffer most. I cannot think for one moment that a court case will help anyone except perhaps the lawyers. It is almost unbelievable that the most successful club rugby tournament ever is likely to be grossly devalued next year by greed and pig-headedness. It’s a wonder that anyone would want to sponsor a rugby tournament going forward.

I haven’t seen much of the current round of Heineken Cup matches but I did catch a bit of Northampton v Leinster and it now seems quite obvious why the English teams want to avoid the Irish next year. The Irish players certainly look strong this season and I think I might put a few quid on them to win the Six Nations.

They say that Heineken reaches the parts that others don’t - what price Pooler representing Wales in the Heineken Cup next season? 

North South Divide

So here we go again, it’s the next instalment in the long running soap opera that is Wales v Australia rugby matches - Neighbours meets Pobl Y Cwm. The one thing that we can be sure of is a cliffhanging ending. The only trouble is we always seem to be able to guess what the outcome will be no matter how they get to the edge of the cliff.

In truth, for most of this match, the two teams were poles apart with Australia decidedly superior. Fortunately Wales had the North Star to guide them and that kept them in the game. North’s long range try and a Halfpenny penalty gave them an unlikely lead in the opening exchanges even though they barely had the ball.

For the next hour it was all Australia as they turned a 10 point deficit to a 14 point lead. Sitting behind the posts, it was alarming to see how Cooper managed to orchestrate overlaps with ease. The Australians were certainly helped by some indifferent kicking from Wales plus a pretty ropey Welsh line out but they have classy backs who are always looking to offload. A combination of, at times, inspirational defence plus a few missed chances kept the deficit to 14 points. In truth it could have been a lot more although some would argue that it should actually have been less as the referee awarded Australia a try from what looked like a clear forward pass.

In the nature of this fixture, Wales were bound to come back and come back they did. Cue George North and he didn’t disappoint slicing through to score under the posts. The converted try and a penalty closed the gap to just 4 points and the momentum swung to Wales. Australia were reduced to 14 men by a yellow card and Wales pressed hard. Could Wales do a Southern Hemisphere and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? You guessed the answer. Wales are not the All Blacks and lacked the precision and patience to set up a winning score and the score remained 26-30.

So yet another failure against one of the big three Southern Hemisphere teams. More hard luck stories and all those injuries too. It's the same old story when it comes down to it we are just not good enough.

Perhaps we just need a new script writer.

PS

Last week I was moaning about the scrums, well wasn’t it refreshing to watch a game with so few scrums. It’s almost like a different game.

No, I’m still not going to comment on the Heineken Cup debacle - at least not until I understand it (and that might take a while!)

Strictly Scrum Dancing

I was quite looking forward to the Wales v Tonga game on Friday night as it would be a nice appetiser before the main course of the weekend which saw Pontypool back in league action against Bargoed.

Imagine if you were in a posh restaurant and when your starter arrived it was a drab grey colour. Well this is how I felt when Wales came out dressed in grey. I don’t think any team in history has done anything of note dressed in grey - just think back to the Confederates in the American Civil War. Why on earth did we choose grey and why did we choose one of the drabbest of the fifty shades available? As it turned out the Tongans were in white so we could have worn red anyway.

The gloom was lifted when the Tongans gave a spirited rendition of the sipi tau and Wales actually started well enough scoring two good tries as the young backs cut loose. It had all the hallmarks of an entertaining match especially when Tonga scored a decent try themselves. The second half, however, turned out to be one of the most uninspiring periods of rugby that I have ever watched. It just seemed to consist of an endless series of inconclusive scrums. In the end the forwards looked like they were in the late stages of a marathon dancing competition as they clung to each other in scrums and mauls. Fortunately for Wales, Dr Who seemed to have set up a force-field around the Tongan half and both teams were trapped inside. It would have been better if the force-field had included the Tongan dead ball line rather than stopping at the try line however.

To use a dancing analogy, this was not the high tempo quickstep that we expect from Wales but rather the slow, shambling, smoochy stuff at the end of a wedding reception. Don’t Tonga realise that they are an anagram of tango? If Craig Revel Horwood had been there he would have said, ‘It’s a disaaaster daaarling.’ Perhaps we should have sewn some sequins on those uninspiring grey shirts.

By Saturday afternoon I had managed to forget about the tedium of the previous evening and took my place on the Bank at Pontypool with an exciting local derby against Bargoed in prospect. The sun was shining and there was not even a hint of grey on view. The spooky thing was that the match turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the previous evening with Pooler unfortunately playing the part of Tonga.

The first half was quite entertaining and evenly contested although it was clear that Bargoed had the edge in the forward battle. Pontypool took an early lead with a penalty then Bargoed hit back with a try to lead 3-5. Another Bargoed try and a second Pooler penalty gave the away side 6-12 lead before Hurley scored a good try in the corner for Pontypool after excellent combined play. The conversion by Gullis from the touchline gave the home team a narrow lead at 13-12. The lead was short-lived, however, with a Bargoed penalty leaving the score 13-15 at half time. Still anyone’s game, we thought, although we would have to contend with playing up the slope in the second half.

Rather like the previous evening virtually all the play in the second half was concentrated in one half. Unfortunately it was in Pontypool’s half as the Bargoed forwards took a vice-like grip on the match. It was a turgid affair, indeed, with countless scrums as Pooler scrambled and scrapped valiantly to keep Bargoed out. Inevitably the pressure told and Bargoed eventually made the game safe with a penalty and a converted try to run out convincing 13-25 winners. Bargoed are one of the better teams in the league so losing to them was no disgrace and Pooler battled bravely to the end.

Now we don’t mind a scrum or two in Pontypool, but this weekend has been excessive. They haven’t even been good scrums - I can’t help feeling that it’s killing the game as a spectacle.

There is no Pontypool game next weekend as we must all watch Wales play Australia (yet again). Let’s hope the grey shirts have been consigned to the bin and we get a dynamic red-blooded display from Wales.

PS I can’t bring myself to comment on the debacle surrounding the Heineken Cup but piss-ups and breweries spring to mind.     

Don’t decry for me Argentina

I was there to watch Wales finally win an Autumn rugby international after lots of valiant and lots of not so valiant attempts.

‘It was only Argentina after all,’ I hear you snort. Well it was only a year ago when they stuffed us comprehensively and make no mistake this was a tough test match.  Yes Wales were always in control, but Argentina made it difficult at times and could have scored a couple of tries.

In a lot of ways I found the game frustrating and wished that Wales had thrown caution to the winds a bit more often. I find the tactic of Halfpenny virtually always kicking the ball in the air after he catches it in his own half irritating - particularly in a game like this. When Wales opened up and played at pace they made big inroads into Argentina territory and could have scored a couple more tries. Still we needed a win and the George North try in the first half was a beauty and what about Mike Phillips running 80 yards to score. If he carries on like that, Pooler will make him an offer!

The question of who plays at outside half against Australia has not really been answered in my view. I guess the way our centres are getting injured we might have to play Biggar, Priestland and Hook in the same team. I wonder if Gavin is waiting for a phone call.

I watched the Ireland v Australia game in the pub and we will have our work cut out to make an impression on the Aussies who really looked sharp in attack. Their scrum seemed to be in little trouble too.

Thank goodness Pooler are playing Bargoed next Saturday, these trips to Cardiff are proving expensive. After the match we had to wait 45 minutes to get the shuttle train back to Newport. Apparently they had let a train leave just before the match finished so we had to wait for it to go to Newport and back. Great planning!

PS I think England lost but they are still definitely going to win the RWC. It says so in the papers!

No Change for Wales

I made the short journey to Cardiff on Saturday for the first of the Autumn internationals. Nobody I spoke to seemed to think that we could beat South Africa and the crowd in the stadium seemed quite resigned to another gallant failure right from the start. There was none of the nationalistic fervour that we all felt for that famous victory against England at the end of last season.

It was certainly a hard match with both sides playing with total commitment. In truth neither side looked like scoring a try as tough defence and tactical kicking were the order of the day. The strange thing is that the Springboks managed to score three tries. They took their few chances clinically whilst Wales didn’t really create a try scoring opportunity as they got no change from the Boks defence no matter how hard they tried. The first Springbok try came about when Scott Williams was lying on the ground injured. Habana saw the gap and came in from his wing and created a try. The second was from a forward drive resulting from a lineout in the Wales twenty two following a penalty. The third try was from a speculative South African kick up field when the Welsh expected the ball to bounce into touch and were embarrassed when it didn’t and suddenly the quick thinking Boks were in under the posts. An object lesson in taking your chances.

Wales were unfortunate with injuries and lost the influential Jonathon Davies who made two great attacking thrusts during his short stay on the field. Losing Liam Williams at the same time didn’t help either with Halfpenny being shifted to the wing to accommodate Hook. The reliable goal kicking of Halfpenny did keep us interested until the crushing third try but it is the same old story really. We seem to lack a cutting edge and the opposition knows exactly what we are going to do. It is a shame that Eli Walker was injured as he is the kind of player who might have done something unpredictable. 

I guess when the analysts look at possession, tackles, territory etc on their laptops they will conclude that we did all right but in the only analysis that really matters we lost to a Southern Hemisphere heavyweight - no change there then.

P.S. I still don’t understand why the Welsh Championship has no fixtures for three of the four Saturdays when the Autumn internationals take place when the Regions are still playing.

Winning in the rain

It was a wild and windy day in Blackwood as Pontypool visited to seek some revenge for the three defeats that their Gwent neighbours had inflicted on them last season. The wind was cold and blustery and frequent torrential showers fell on an already sodden pitch. It was not a day fro the faint hearted and certainly not a day for open rugby. It was a day for the forwards and for kick and chase. Thirty or so years ago this would have been meat and drink for the legendary Pontypool pack but the modern day version does not contain the gnarled warriors that so terrified the opposition. It was going to be a real test of character. Even if Blackwood had not had the best of seasons so far, we knew that they would pose a stern challenge in a local derby.

The wind slightly favoured Pontypool in the first half although it seemed to be blowing across the pitch if anything. In the opening exchanges it was soon clear that the Pooler scrum was dominant as they pushed the Blackwood pack back yards. In the conditions, there were sure to be plenty of scrums so such dominance would surely prove a match winner we thought. Indeed from a scrum, Pooler scored an early try when Organ forced his way over near the posts. The successful conversion gave the away side an early 0-7 lead. This stung Blackwood into action and their forwards proved a real handful in the loose. They carried well and forced Pooler on to the retreat and generally made it very uncomfortable for the away side at the breakdown. There were lots of penalties and lots of handling errors and few three-quarter moves.

The referee must have had a particularly difficult job distinguishing the two teams as the only difference in strip was really a yellow stripe for Blackwood compared with a white stripe for Pontypool. As the jerseys got muddier and muddier it became almost impossible to tell the teams apart. The referee did very well in the circumstances.

Although the Pooler scrum remained dominant, Blackwood came more and more into the game and it was just reward that they scored the equalising try that was well converted from the touchline. Pooler had been reduced to fourteen men by a sin binning and failed to capitalise from several scrums close to the Blackwood line. The home side marched back up the field and pressurised Pooler and were rewarded with two successful penalty goals to lead 13-7 at the break.

Pontypool seemed to up their game in the second half and the forwards began to gain the ascendancy in the loose. This coupled with the still dominant scrum gave them a better platform to work from and, although the handling errors and turnovers continued in the slippery conditions, they gained territorial advantage. A penalty cut the deficit to 13-10 and it looked only matter of time before Pooler took the lead. Then, disaster! An interception by the home team as Pooler attacked on the home twenty two and the Blackwood version of Prince Obolensky just about managed to run the seventy odd yards to the Pontypool posts for a converted try to bring the score to 20-10. Pooler looked deflated, Blackwood were given new energy.  Pontypool regrouped and worked their way back into the Blackwood twenty two and were awarded a penalty accompanied by a yellow card for the home side. This proved decisive as the momentum swung towards Pooler. They scored an excellent try when Taylor sliced through the Blackwood defence from one of the few three-quarter moves. Although the try went unconverted it was soon followed by a converted try after a quickly taken tap penalty by Thomas. Pooler were back in the lead at 20-22 and just needed to play the rest of the game in the Blackwood half. Easier said than done, of course, and Blackwood would not lie down. A further penalty by Gullis took the score to 20-25 and gave Pooler a bit more breathing space and they held on to take the spoils.

This was a hard fought victory against a stubborn Blackwood side in truly awful conditions. Well done boys and good luck to whoever has to wash the kit.

I did watch the Dragons v Leinster Seconds on the TV on Friday evening. It was certainly a game they could have and arguably should have won. Ultimately a loss at home against much weakened opposition in a poor quality game is no cause for optimism.

England celebrated ten years without winning anything (no RWC, no Grand Slam, no Triple Crown) by narrowly beating the Aussies. I just hope that Wales can finally turn over one of the big boys this Autumn but recent history is very much against it. The strange thing is that it does not seem to matter that much when it comes to the Six Nations.

It still seems strange to me that the Welsh Championship takes a break to coincide with the Autumn Internationals. We do not lose that many players to the national squad after all. With two of the Wales kick-offs at 5.00pm, it would seem to be a good way of filling the clubhouses after watching your team playing. Maybe it’s an admission that the leagues do not have enough teams in them to fill the season.

So the next game for the Pooler is the 23rd November against Bargoed. Another tough local derby in prospect.