White Friday

Well against my better judgement I almost started to believe all the hype in the Welsh Media that was telling us how we were going to beat England comfortably. England seemed reticent to take the field at the start although I don’t really blame them as they were going to be greeted by a weird fusion between a 70’s disco and a scene from Star Wars (what were the WRU thinking of?). This was followed by Wales scoring 10 points in as many minutes. What could go wrong?

The answer is plenty. In that first scrum Wales were pushed back yards and it was really only down to some expert play from Faletau that they scored a try rather than ended up conceding a penalty. From then on England got stronger and stronger and slowly but surely took a stranglehold on the game. The Welsh set-piece creaked and groaned and Wales never looked like scoring a try as the England defence snuffed out all their attacking intentions. The only bright spot in the remainder of the first half was a well-taken drop goal by Biggar that opened up a useful 8 point lead for the home side at 16-8 on the stroke of half time.

We felt confident that the Welsh coaching team would put things right at half time and Wales would come out firing. Instead a poor clearance kick from Webb instantly gave England an excellent attacking position and they never looked back. It was not a matter of if but rather when the away side would reel in the Welsh lead. We didn’t have to wait long as poor tackling let in Joseph for a try and with the conversion England were back within a point.

Wales seemed to lack energy and ideas while England were abrasive and purposeful. Two more penalties from England and they were home and dry at 16-21. If the winning margin had been twice that it would not have been flattering as Wales floundered.

As the game slipped inexorably away, you have to wonder why our two flair players Liam Williams and Justin Tuperic remained on the bench. Surely it was worth trying to change something.

I am sure I read somewhere that the season was all about preparing for the World Cup for Wales and the players were being worked excessively hard to build up their stamina for the autumn. I have to say that the Six Nations does matter to some of us who have stumped our hard earned cash to watch Wales play England. Losing to England upsets me for weeks. I don’t dare to open the sports section of the newspaper now as it will be full of how England will win the World Cup on the back of a Grand Slam.

At this stage I have to make a confession. Not that I am superstitious but Wales have never won when I have bought Warburton’s bread on match day. It was a genuine mistake honest - I had forgotten my glasses. Sorry boys!

The one good thing about the Friday kick off is that Pooler are playing on the Saturday. Let’s hope that they can account for Glynneath to start the healing process before the long trek to Edinburgh next weekend.

Disappointment and Anticipation

Unfortunately I was unable to make the trip to Narberth to watch Pontypool. I was on tenterhooks as the tweets came streaming through. It was enough to turn a man to drink when the injury time penalty by Narberth put paid to our hopes by the narrowest of margins (8-7). In fact it did turn me to drink but I still felt disappointed even after a generous quota of Doombar.

The Six Nations is just around the corner now and I will be travelling to both Edinburgh and Paris to support Wales. First off, however, is the little matter of playing England next weekend. The Friday evening kick-off is all very well for those tucked up in their lounges or in the local pub but for those who go to the game the travel arrangements really take the edge off the occasion. Never mind at least we will be able to pick up Saturday’s papers on the way home.

What are our chances of beating England? I guess it must be fifty fifty. I don’t buy all this stuff about England’s injury toll making Wales favourites. You have to remember England have fifty times more players to choose from than Wales and their seventh team would not be much weaker than whatever they consider to be their first team. The Welsh advantage is that we have a settled side with a well established game plan that has been shown to work when the players are on the top of their game. The down side is that everyone knows what we are going to try and do and can plan accordingly. I still have nightmares about our game in Dublin last year when we were humiliated.

The Welsh squad seems to have few injury problems at the moment but that will surely change as the tournament progresses. Things might get a little problematical if Samson Lee is injured and you can’t help feeling that it we good to have the solid and reassuring figure of Adam Jones still around.

The overall outcome of the Six Nations is really difficult to predict this year and home advantage in the key games coupled with injury toll often decides it. All the teams apart from Italy and possibly Scotland can make a plausible case for being champions although Scotland certainly look more than capable of upsetting anyone on their day. This sounds like fence-sitting and indeed it is. I will not be venturing any of my hard earned cash on the outcome. I note that the bookies have Ireland as narrow favourites with England just behind.

But if Wales can only sneak home against England…. 

Feast or Famine

Whilst I had been away getting some winter sun, Pontypool had gone down to two quite damaging defeats. The first was a heavy home defeat by Bargoed the runaway league leaders that underlined the gap between the two sides. The second was an unexpected away defeat to bottom of the league Llanharan. Added to this there was the recent resignation of Pontypool director of rugby Alun Carter. It was going to be interesting to see how the team reacted in their home again against now bottom of the league Tondu

Well for most of the first half Pontypool were pretty awful. They seemed to lack confidence and the cohesion that was there in the excellent home win against RGC 1404 seemed to have completely disappeared.  The tactical kicking and handling were inconsistent and they struggled to put any meaningful attacks together. There were just two flashes of inspiration that led to two unconverted tries for Norton and Thorley. Both tries admirably demonstrated that if Pooler could get the ball out wide they were more than capable of shaking off their lethargy.

Tondu for their part were full of honest endeavour but lacked the cutting edge that would convert their clear dominance of possession and territory into tries. They went close on a number of occasions and two penalty goals were scant reward for the work that they put in. The score of 10-6 at half time was not really a true reflection of what had transpired. Overall it was low quality stuff and we hoped that the home coaching staff would be as busy as the moles that had been having a field day around the pitch.

The second half had to be better and it was. It turned into a try fest as Pontypool finally found their rhythm and managed to get their potent three-quarters moving. As Tondu wilted, Pooler seemed to get stronger and more confident and the game became completely one-sided. The home side really turned on the style and ran in six tries from Gullis (2), Laing (2), Norton and Thorley. Four of the tries were converted by Gullis which left the final score at 48-6. The Pooler side were brimming with confidence at the end in total contrast to their demeanour in the first half.

Hopefully the strong second half performance will have exorcised the demons from the two defeats and Pontypool can now move on. They will certainly need to be on their mettle at Narberth next week as they can expect a much sterner test.

The build up to the Six Nations has started with the squads being announced. No real surprises for Wales and most of us could probably pick the starting line up for the England game now. The omission of Adam Jones and James Hook surely marks the end of two international careers and I salute their contribution to the Welsh cause. You can’t help feeling we could have got more out of Hook if had been given more opportunities in the latter part of his career.

I did see a small amount of European rugby and was impressed with Racing Metro who dominated at the much vaunted Northampton. The form of the three Welshmen Roberts, Charteris and Phillips looked good and George North scored a try and made one really strong run for the Saints which all bodes well for Wales.

I also caught a bit of the Edinburgh game and started to wonder about the impact of the size of the in-goal area on the game. In some of the grounds it looks barely five yards long and in others like Murrayfield it is a vast expanse. It surely must make a significant difference both in attack and defence - for example an outside half kicking for touch from a defensive five metre scrum or the attacking side trying to chase a kick ahead. Maybe it should be standardised. I won’t lose any sleep over it though.

Anyway let’s hope the Pooler will be seeing plenty of Narberth’s in-goal area next week.

Pooler Power to Victory

The post Christmas fare this year pitted Pontypool against RGC 1404 from North Wales. These teams represent the most easterly and most northerly locations in the Championship and the visitors managed to make the long trip despite the wintry weather. I certainly don’t envy them the amount of travelling that they have to do during the course of a season. The pitch was in remarkably good condition considering the heavy rain that had fallen on the previous day.

Pooler made a sluggish start to the match and RGC quickly camped out in the home 22. The visitors looked a well drilled side and their three quarters probed strongly. It was no more than they deserved when they opened the scoring with a converted try after concerted pressure. If Pooler didn’t know that RGC meant business, it had been brought home to them in no uncertain manner.

The home side began to liven up as the last morsels of Christmas pudding were digested and forced their way up to the RGC line and won athe put in at a scrum 5 metres out. The Pooler pack applied tremendous scrummage pressure and were awarded a penalty try at the second attempt to tie the score up at 7-7. Even better was to follow when an intricate three quarter move led to a try for Thorley converted by Gullis to give Pontypool a 14-7 lead.

The game was closely fought until halftime and with both sides looking to move the ball it was enjoyable to watch. Pooler had the edge in the tight but the RGC backs looked dangerous when they had the ball. A rather clumsy late tackle by RGC skipper Davies resulted in a yellow card just before the half ended with the score still at 14-7.

Pontypool had the advantage of the slope in the second half and took firm control of the match as the rain started to fall. The home side penned RGC in their own half with the pack, ably led by Nash, storming forward. An astute cross kick by Mills found Ryan Thomas on the left wing and the lock gathered the ball to score in the corner. The conversion failed but Pooler had a useful lead at 19-7 and their tails were up.

Pontypool continued to press hard and a break by Quick found the other lock Porter in support and he galloped in for the bonus point try. The try again went unconverted but the home side had built up what looked a winning lead at 24-7.

Pontypool weren’t finished and it was probably fitting that their fifth try came from their dominant scrum when Matthew Thomas touched down after the RGC pack had been dismantled at a 5 metre scrum. There was a late flurry from RGC but Pontypool held out for a well-deserved 29-7 victory.

This was a fine victory for Pontypool against strong opposition. It was a robust performance from the pack that laid the foundations of the win. The set piece was mighty effective and the loose play showed total commitment. We will need a repeat performance and a bit more if we are to end Bargoed’s unbeaten record next Saturday.

I have to say I was impressed with the Dragon’s victory against the Blues. They certainly looked hungry for it and applied remorseless pressure on their more illustrious rivals. It would have been a travesty if the Blues had managed to sneak a last minute win. The West Wales derby was far more open in approach with the all-action Ospreys building up an early lead. Their scrum looked vulnerable and the Scarlets exploited this and closed the gap with a series of penalties to get within an ace of pinching an unlikely victory. Whilst both matches had decent crowds, the 80,000 plus at Twickenham puts things in perspective.

Come on Pooler let’s make it a great start to 2015 with a victory against Bargoed.

Heavy Going for Pooler

The match at Blackwood offered the perfect chance for Pontypool to bounce back after the previous week’s disappointment at Merthyr. Despite their relatively lowly league position, we knew that local rivals Blackwood were never going to make things easy. The weather was cool and dry but a rather sticky pitch was going to provide a searching test test of stamina.

Pontypool totally dominated the first half hour of the match and at times played some excellent rugby with backs and forwards offloading deftly. For all their dominance though, through a combination of a stubborn home defence, the cloying pitch and mistakes at crucial times, Pooler failed to score. We were already reminiscing about the last time that we had watched a 0-0 draw when the deadlock was finally broken. It didn’t come from any intricate back play, however, but from a good old driving lineout with Porter getting the touchdown. Pooler led 0-7 and surely more points would follow.

Pooler continued to dominate but an offload too far led to an interception by Blackwood centre Coed who gleefully scampered 30 metres to score under the posts and tie the scores.

The away side continued to press and Gullis almost got over in the corner but was ruled to have been in touch. Gullis was not to be denied and shortly afterwards he crossed for a try which, with the successful conversion, gave Pontypool a 7-14 lead at half time.

At the start of the second half, Pooler again pushed Blackwood back to their line. They had a series of 5 metre scrums but frustratingly failed to capitalise on a golden opportunity when they lost possession just when a penalty try seemed likely. The pace of the Pontypool three-quarters was proving difficult for Blackwood to contain and two tries from Gullis and Brooks came in quick succession. This increased the Pooler lead to 7-26 and secured a bonus point.

Pontypool seemed to think that the match was won at this stage and took their foot off the gas. They gave away a penalty from the restart and Blackwood kicked for touch. From the ensuing lineout Goodey scored virtually unopposed and the home side still had hope at 14-26.

The usual raft of substitutions seemed to strengthen the home side and disrupt Pontypool and the game became far more evenly contested. Both sides were guilty of squandering good chances as play became more and more scrappy as the heavy pitch took its toll. Blackwood, in particular, failed to score on at least a couple of occasions when they had a clear overlap. In the end Pontypool were mighty glad to hear the final whistle with the final score remaining at 14-26.

A bonus point win at Blackwood is always welcome but one was left with a feeling of deep frustration at the end of the game. Pontypool dominated for most of the game and should have won far more comfortably if just a few more of the scoring opportunities had been taken. At times they play some really great rugby and look particularly good when the tempo is high. Some team is going to suffer when it all clicks that’s for sure.

The Ospreys certainly played at a high tempo when they blew Ulster away in the first hour of their match yesterday. It would be nice to see Wales playing a similar sort of game rather than playing the avoir du pois based stuff. The All Blacks have shown us all how it is done.

Let’s hope for some exhilarating rugby from Pontypool next Saturday against RGC 1604.

Have a merry Xmas and a happy New Year everyone.

A Christmas Cracker

Pontypool visited Championship new boys Merthyr on a crisp and clear afternoon. Merthyr have started the season really well and, having only lost twice, were a couple of places above Pontypool in the league. They were also defending a longstanding unbeaten home record so this was going to be a tough encounter.

Pontypool had picked a jumbo back row for the game and they started really strongly pushing the Merthyr scrum back yards and penning the home side in their 22. Pooler actually drove a scrum over the home try line but frustratingly knocked on in the act of scoring. It was all Pooler and they deservedly opened the scoring with an unconverted try from Number 8 Ryan Thomas. Even though they had limited possession, Merthyr looked dangerous on the break and scored an excellent try from deep in their own half with backs and forwards combining well. This too went unconverted to tie the score at 5-5.

Pontypool continued to dominate territory but were guilty of making too many mistakes with the three-quarters not quite firing as we know they can. This allowed Merthyr a toehold in the game and an exchange of penalties left the score at 8-8. The Pontypool scrummage dominance began to ebb away and the game became much more even and flowed from end to end. It was Pontypool that broke the deadlock just before half time with Jordan Williams popping up on the wing to finish some good combined play. The conversion again failed to leave Pooler with a narrow 8-13 lead at the break.

Merthyr started the second half the stronger and they had changed their tactics. The forwards carried the ball strongly and made big inroads into the Pontypool defence. Pontypool defended stoutly but in the end their defence was breached with the Merthyr loose head prop driving over near the posts. With the conversion, the home side edged into the lead at 15-13.

Pontypool went back on the offensive and the Merthyr scrum half was given a yellow card as they defended their line. The successful penalty from Gullis put Pooler back in the lead at 15-16. A raft of substitutions followed with Pontypool putting Mills at scrum half and bringing on Hancock at outside half as well as changes in the tiring pack. Pontypool gave away a penalty at a ruck in midfield and the successful long range kick meant that Merthyr regained the lead at 18-16.

Yet again the away side responded and hammered away at the Merthyr line. A lack of discipline led to Mills being yellow carded and the opportunity was lost. The game became frenetic as the tension mounted and the large crowd became increasingly vocal. A successful penalty from Gullis put Pontypool back in the lead 18-19 and set up an exciting last 10 minutes.

Spurred on by the crowd, it was the home side that looked the livelier as the Pontypool forwards tired. Some slick handling from the Merthyr backs left their right wing Howard with some room to work with and he beat two men to score in the corner. The conversion failed but Merthyr had a useful lead at 23-19. The away side were not done and injury time saw a series of Pontypool scrums close to the Merthyr line but, to the immense relief of the home fans, Merthyr just about managed to hold out for a victory.

This was a great game of rugby and a fine advertisement for the Championship. It was a game that Pontypool could and, some would argue should, have won. A few wrong options, a few handling errors and an occasional lack of discipline made the difference between winning and losing.  Merthyr are a decent workman-like side and losing narrowly to them away from home is certainly not a disgrace. It would have been nice to win though!

After the tension of the match, I had to take myself to the pub for a drink so didn’t really see much of the European rugby.  I just happened to catch the end of the Leinster v Harlequins game which looked a pretty boisterous affair. European rugby is certainly not a beautiful thing to watch and it is all about attrition rather than artistry. It really does need a massive squad of top players to succeed and that means money. Even with the recent changes to regional rugby in Wales, it is difficult to see how the regions will ever be able to compete with the likes of Toulon and Northampton.

Still all I have to worry about is the trip to Blackwood next week! Come on Pooler.

    

Season’s Greetings

I suppose you might say we are lucky in Pontypool as we get to have two rugby seasons every year these days. Through the wisdom of those who run Welsh rugby, in the Championship we now have a short Autumn season followed by a five week break and then a long Winter/Spring Season followed by the Summer break. I am no accountant but I am sure this makes managing cash flow quite difficult.

So we duly turned up at Pontypool to see the first game of the new season which happened to be against our old rivals from Newbridge, In the Autumn season Pontypool, in case you can’t remember, had done pretty well and won 6 of their 9 matches and had built up a good head of steam. Newbridge, however, had not won a match and were languishing at the bottom of the league. The break probably came at the wrong time for Pooler and the right time for Newbridge who had a chance to lick their wounds and regroup.

Pontypool started well enough and looked pretty dominant playing down the slope. After an exchange of penalties they scored two unconverted tries from Quick and Gullis and were good value for a 13-3 lead. The tries demonstrated that the home backs had lost none of their edge during the break and with decent possession they looked capable of running riot.

Newbridge had other ideas and their workmanlike pack started to get the upper hand and the possession and territory statistics swung quite dramatically their way. Pontypool were starved of the ball and had difficulty containing the visitors’ driving lineout. It was no more than Newbridge deserved when after a period of prolonged pressure during which Quick was yellow carded for Pontypool that they scored a converted try followed by a penalty to tie the score up at 13-13. Gullis kicked another penalty for Pooler t just before half time to give the home side a narrow 16-13 lead at the interval. This was certainly not going to be a comfortable second half for Pontypool.

Rather like in the first half Pontypool started well. Gullis kicked another penalty and then, following a turnover in their 22, the Pontypool backs engineered  an excellent long range try for Haile which opened up 13 point lead at 26-13. This should surely be enough to see them home - or so we thought.

Newbridge were far from done however and came storming back. Pooler began to wilt under concerted pressure from the Newbridge pack and started to give away far too many penalties. Two of these were converted into points to close the gap to 26-19 and Newbridge could smell blood. They laid siege on the Pontypool line but the home side just about managed to keep them out. In a rare foray into Newbridge territory, Gullis gave Pooler some breathing space with another penalty goal to increase the lead to 29-19. Back came Newbridge and they were soon camped in the home 22 again. A series of 5 metre scrums led to a yellow card for Pontypool prop Edwards and from the ensuing scrum and Gibbs drove over for a Newbridge try. The successful conversion made the score 29-26 and yet another tense nail-biting finish for the Pontypool faithful. Fortunately there was very little time left and Pontypool held on grimly for a narrow victory.

This was another really tough game for Pontypool and the pattern was quite similar to a number of matches in the Autumn season. The Pontypool backs look more than a match for most sides but somehow we don’t seem to be able to get enough decent possession to put sides away and then we often seem to be hanging on desperately at the end. It does nothing for our nerves that’s for certain.

Next week Pontypool visit Merthyr who are riding high in the league and we will certainly need to step up a level or two if they are to secure a victory. Meanwhile Bargoed are marching on at the top of the league and have opened up a significant gap rather like Ebbw Vale before them.

It’s good to be back.