Pooler Get Bogged Down

Two exhilarating victories at Llanelli and Cardiff had earned Pontypool yet another away tie at Cross Keys in the quarter final of the Welsh National Cup. Could Pooler cause another upset?

It was a grey cold afternoon with rain threatening and when we looked at the pitch our faces fell. The surface looked muddy and sticky – a million miles from the artificial pitch at Cardiff where Pooler had performed their heroics in the previous round. The high speed rugby that had served us well there wasn’t going to do here.

Cross Keys played with the help of a diagonal wind over their right shoulders in the first half. It soon became abundantly clear that our worst fears would become reality as any quick changes of pace or direction by the players proved impossible on the Pandy pudding. The home side had their game plan off to tee with strong forward drives coupled with an astute kicking game. They also had a back row that were mightily skilled in winning turnovers at the breakdown with Matthews particularly prominent.

Keys used the high penalty count in their favour to grind out a lead in the first half. It wasn’t pretty but it worked. They garnered two penalty goals through Prosser and an unconverted try by Hughes from a driving lineout following a kick to the corner from a penalty and built up a useful 11-0 lead by half time. Pontypool had their moments with one thirty metre forward drive particularly memorable. They also spurned a kick at goal to try a driving lineout of their own. Unfortunately both pieces of play ended up in the redoubtable Cross Keys forwards forcing a turnover. By half time, both teams were covered with thick mud as was the ball which was often difficult to spot. Pontypool had shown plenty of endeavour but had never really looked like breaching the home defence.

In the second half Pontypool needed to have a good start and get some points on the scoreboard if they were going to trouble the home side. Unfortunately they conceded another penalty early on and the deficit increased to 14-0. It left Pooler with a mountain to climb.

Pontypool started to gain some decent possession and strung some phases together. It proved difficult to get runners moving at pace and the Cross Keys defence was more than capable of snuffing out Pooler’s attacks. Indeed most of the attacks seemed to end with a penalty to Cross Keys as the home jackals plied their trade. Pontypool did manage to get some points on the board with a penalty from Jones to make the score 14-3.

It didn’t take long for the home side to respond when No 8 Jones spotted some space behind the Pontypool defence. He put in a deft chip kick that any outside half would have been proud of that allowed Trowbridge to pick up the ball and stroll in in the corner. At 19-3 the match was effectively over.

Pooler attacked strongly for the remainder of the game but it was more of the same as the stingy home defence and the stickiness of the pitch foiled their best efforts. The final whistle blew leaving the score at 19-3 to Cross Keys. Pooler’s Cup adventure was over.

Pontypool fought hard but it was the pragmatism and solid game plan of Cross Keys that deservedly won the day. Their backrow were outstanding and managed to nullify Pontypool’s attacking threat. “Pooler locked out by Keys” would have been the headline that summed up the match in the days of John Billot and J.B.G. Thomas. Another day, another pitch? …. we can but dream.

Pontypool will now get back to League action and face Newcastle Emlyn at the Park next Saturday. After the disappointment at Pandy Park, the squad need to bounce back.  Thanks to everyone at the club for a brilliant cup run. The Cardiff game in particular will live long in my memory.

Meanwhile Wales will also need to regroup after their poor second half display at Murray field last weekend. They face Ireland at the Principality Stadium on Friday evening and know they will have a tough task containing the resurgent Irish. Friday evening Six Nations rugby is not really my cup of tea with the angst surrounding getting to and from the match. Nevertheless I will take my seat and hope that Wales can spring a surprise both in selection and in the result.

Come on Wales!

Come on Pooler!

Triple Frown

I’ve just got back from the long trek to Edinburgh. We had a great weekend with Scottish hospitality as usual second to none. Unfortunately their hospitality didn’t extend to the second half of the Scotland v. Wales rugby international!

The first half performance by Wales was powerful and purposeful and they really should have built a substantial lead. Yet again we do not seem to be able to crack well-organised defences with our playing pattern. It took a quick tap penalty from the excellent Webb to release Liam Williams for our solitary try. A key period in the match came just before half time when Halfpenny missed a reasonably easy penalty and almost immediately afterwards Scotland showed how dangerous their backs could be with Jones only just being halted close to the line. Scotland were awarded a penalty and instead of it being 16-6 it was 13-9. I am sure this changed the dynamic in the Scotland changing room during half time.

You just knew Scotland were going to come out for the second half breathing fire and brimstone and the task for Wales was to repel their initial assault. Instead of that we had the worst possible start with Halfpenny drooping a high ball giving Scotland field position and possession. The rest, as they say, is history. The momentum shifted and a rampant Scottish team totally outplayed us winning the second half 20-0. True Wales had a couple of chances but anything other than a Scottish victory would have been an injustice. Howley was certainly sent “homeward tae think again”.

I had predicted a Scottish victory in the sweep but not one that was quite this comprehensive. Wales looked befuddled and bereft of ideas as they game drew to its conclusion. Instead of a Triple Crown it looks like a Triple Frown with Wales looking favourites to lose all three matches with the powerful Irish coming to Cardiff in a week or so. What can Wales do? – we don’t even have Cuthbert as a scapegoat this time. His replacement George North certainly didn’t have any positive impact on the game. Can we risk making wholesale changes? Can we risk not making wholesale changes? Have the personnel to make wholesale changes? It is quite a dilemma. Having watched our struggles with Scotland’s kicking game, we had better find a way of dealing with what is sure to be a barrage of similar missiles from Sexton and co.

In the pack there is a case of Charteris and Faletau coming off the bench and replacing Ball and Tipuric. In the backs it must be time to give Sam Davies a start and move Williams to fullback. Let’s give one of the young wings a run possibly at the expense of the out of sorts North. Anyway let’s do something! Where are our strike moves I wonder? One worked perfectly against England are there no more? It doesn’t bode well for the Lions if there are not.

I had better move on – I guess I just feel a bit liverish after all that Scottish hospitality.

I did get home in time to see the England v Italy game and tacklegate. It was quite comical to see England in disarray as the wondered how to find a way to deal with the Italian tactics. It just not rugger don’t you know!

It strikes me that the England starting XV is no better than anyone else’s. They have been at least matched in all three of their encounters so far. Where they come into their own is with the strength of the players on their bench and the way they use them. Clearly if you have so many more players than anyone else you are bound to have greater strength in depth particularly when you bolster it with overseas players. This is the way the All Blacks win many of their games too. Wales do not quite seem to have mastered the use of their replacements.

A sobering though is that if Wales did manage to beat Ireland and England beat Scotland next week, England will be champions with a game to go.

Enough of this Six Nations stuff. The most important match of the season is only six days away with Pontypool travelling to Pandy Park to take on Cross keys in the quarter final of the cup. Cross Keys must start as favourites as a Premiership team with home advantage but I am sure that Pooler are quite capable of providing yet another upset if they bring their A game. Let’s hope for a game like the one that we watched in the Arms Park in last round.

Come on Pooler!

Vibrant Pooler Win Thriller

Cup games between Cardiff and Pontypool have a rich history with many epic encounters which more often and not have gone Cardiff’s way. So it was that the Pontypool faithful made their way to the Arms Park to witness what they hoped would be another classic encounter. The Cardiff officials seemed a little taken aback by the size of the Pooler Army and this led to a bit of frustration getting into the ground but all that was soon forgotten as we took our places.

Conditions were absolutely perfect with no wind and of course the artificial pitch. Cardiff must surely have started as favourites as they are in the Premiership with Pooler in the league below and of course their familiarity with the way the pitch plays.

Rather like in the previous round in Llanelli, the Premiership side started the stronger as Pontypool tried to acclimatise to the conditions. Cardiff deservedly got the first points on the board with two well-taken penalties by their lively outside half Thompson. The Pontypool tacklers started to get their range and seemed on intent on making the Cardiff attackers their traditional black and blue. There were some thunderous hits going in. Tu’ipulotu in particular was relishing the challenge and he intercepted a pass in a promising home attack and set Brookes scurrying under the posts. Pooler were up and running and with the successful conversion 6-7 in the lead.

Cardiff continued to attack with their pacey backs but Pontypool continued to rock them back with powerful defence. As Pontypool started to get more possession it was clear that their driving play was going to be very effective as they repeatedly crossed the gain line. Pontypool were awarded a penalty and Matthew Jones made no mistake 6-10.

Back came the home side with a series of strong thrusts. The Pontypool defence finally cracked and conceded a try near their posts. Cardiff were back in the lead at 13-10. Cardiff then increased their lead through another penalty to 16-10 after a rather harsh decision by the referee. This was turning out to be a tremendous match with Pooler’s power and commitment against the undoubted skill of the Cardiff backs. Does that sound familiar?

Pontypool worked their way into the Cardiff twenty two and their backs showed just what they could do with a perfectly executed strike move which put Hurley over for a try in the corner. A fantastic try coupled with a fantastic conversion put Pontypool back on top at 16-17.

In the sixth minute of injury time Cardiff were awarded yet another penalty and the sure footed Thompson converted to give the home side a narrow 19-17 lead after a tremendous first half battle. At that stage it was difficult to pick a winner and it promised to be an epic second half.

As you would expect, Cardiff were out of the blocks quickly in the second half and the Pontypool defence had it all to do to keep them out. But keep them out they did and what is more they broke out from their own twenty two and almost scored. There followed a period of concerted pressure from the away side and an excellent line break by Hurley was supported by substitute Gullis who crossed near the posts. With the conversion Pooler were back in the lead at 19-24.

Pontypool really had the bit between their teeth and tore into the Cardiff ranks as they sought to put the game to bed. Their pressure led to a further penalty 19-27 but this was quickly cancelled out by a penalty from the home side 22-27. Yet another penalty to the home side made it 25-27 and it was getting really tense.

The Pontypool supporters pumped up the volume as they tried to will their side home. Pooler responded with another powerful surge deep into home territory. Forwards and backs hurled themselves forward and it was almost inevitable that it was the redoubtable Nash that eventually crossed in the corner. Another fine conversion from Jones gave Pontypool breathing space at 25-34.

Pontypool continued to surge forward and under enormous pressure Cardiff conceded a penalty at a ruck and lost a man to the sin bin. Pontypool looked winners at 25-37 but there was no room for complacency as the Cardiff backs had looked more than capable of scoring a try or two. Strong defence led to another penalty for Pontypool which the ever reliable Jones slotted. The away side had a 15 point lead at 25-40 and were now more than two scores clear with time running out. Game over you would say.

Cardiff didn’t think it was game over, however, and put together a powerful set of phases and despite some strong defence deservedly scored their second try of the match near the posts. The gap had closed to 32-40 deep into injury time. Cardiff threw the ball about but Pooler were in no mood to let this one go. The away side forced Cardiff to concede yet another penalty with Jones yet again converting to bring a fantastic game to a close with a final score of 32-43.

What a brilliant game of rugby and what a brilliant performance by Pontypool. As at Llanelli, it was the complete team performance with everyone playing out of their skins against a good Cardiff side. If this is what rugby on an artificial pitch is like, let’s have more of it! A word for the travelling Pontypool support who outnumbered and out-shouted the home fans and really count as the sixteenth man. There is no mistaking the fact that Pontypool are a Premiership team in all but name and it is a real shame that they have no short term route to that exclusive club.

So Pontypool progress to the quarterfinals and I cannot think that any of the remaining teams will relish playing against them in this mood. Let us hope for a home draw this time so we can give our opponents a real Pooler welcome.

Fantastic win, congratulations to all at the club. You did us proud!

Come on Pooler!

Wales Mugged by England

“Could have” and “should have” are the words that are ringing in a rather thick head this morning. In the end “didn’t” is the word that sums up the Wales loss to England yesterday.

I had turned up expecting England to win comfortably – perhaps I had been taken in by Eddie Trump’s rhetoric. As it turned out, it was far from comfortable for England who looked second best for most of the match. Unfortunately Wales seem to have lost the knack of scoring tries and this cost them as it did in the Rugby World Cup. In a way the game reminded me of Gibbs Day all those years ago in Wembley. That day it was England who could not build a big enough lead to secure victory. Yesterday it was Wales. Bah! It will take a while to get over this I think.

Next week we have another outing to Cardiff when Pontypool take on Cardiff RFC in the Cup. I am certainly looking forward to it as if Pooler play like they did at Llanelli they will provide a stern test for the city slickers.

Come on Pooler! 

The Grey Legion

I have just returned from a weekend in Rome centred around the Italy v. Wales match. The first thing that you notice is that the average age of the travelling Welsh supporters is much higher than for any of the other Six Nations away trips. It is clearly much favoured by "mature" couples who like to be able to combine the cultural experience that Rome has to offer with the rugby and of course the liquid and solid refreshments. Since I am firmly ensconced in the grey hair brigade (although having immature tendencies) it makes for a pleasant experience. For our part, we took in the Vatican on a comprehensive if rather exhausting three hour tour. It was really interesting and took us away from the six euro a pint temptation of the local bars for a while. Yes this can be a pretty expensive trip and particularly so with the current exchange rate. This probably goes a long way to explain why the demography is as it is.

This made me think about the average age of the regular supporters of Welsh club rugby and, although I have no facts, my observation would also be that the grey hair brigade are in the majority. This certainly seems to be the case at Pontypool where the same faces are recognisable year in and year out. If this is the case then this is a worrying trend as time will surely catch up with this stalwart band. This year I celebrate 50 years of watching the Pooler but I certainly hope to watch them for a while longer! The conundrum is how to attract a younger audience. Having a kids' rugby match as a curtain raiser for league games is a good initialtive.

So back to Rome and the match. The Italians to their credit had tried hard, and to a large extent, succeeded in generating a lively pre-match atmosphere in the area outside the stadium. There was a band and lots of food and drink outlets which was just as well as the stadium is some way out of the city. It is a pleasant way to while away an hour or so before the match - at least until the rain came.

Inside the stadium is was clear that ticket sales had not gone well with it only looking half full. This is a real shame as the Italian crowd can certainly generate plenty of noise. It probably doesn’t help when they have two home games in a week with the Irish on their way next weekend.

I am sure I don’t need to give you a match report but in summary the Italians were competitive in the first half when Wales continued to play the toothless rugby of the autumn. After the interval, the rain cleared and the Welsh thinking became less clouded and they ran out comfortable winners. They just fell agonisingly short of the bonus point at the death. Nevertheless an away win and we were able to tuck into our pasta in the evening with a smile on our faces.

I think everyone is clear that the Welsh will need to up their game several notches if they are to threaten England next Saturday. It is certainly a big ask and I don’t think that I will be investing what little of my money is left on a bet on a Welsh victory. I sincerely hope that Wales can pull something out of the hat and really set up a close Six Nations Championship.

I was absolutely delighted that Pontypool continued their brilliant winning run with a 17-40 victory at Skewen on Saturday. This maintained their commanding lead at the top of the Welsh Championship. Well done boys!

The Cup Draw has paired Pontypool with a familiar foe in Cardiff RFC which rekindles memories of some epic battles in the past. Of course Pooler will have the new experience of playing on a plastic pitch which will make things interesting. Over the years, Llanelli and Cardiff proved to be our Nemesis in the Cup and it would be absolutely fantastic if we could beat them both in one season! Certainly a major challenge but why not!

Come on Pooler!

Come on Wales!

Super Pooler Defy the Odds

Due to one thing another, it has been a while since I have seen the Pooler in action and I have been looking forward to Pontypool’s visit to Llanelli in the Swalec Cup ever since the draw was made. A cup encounter with Llanelli brings back many memories for us long-in-the-tooth supporters. Unfortunately none of the memories are particularly happy as Pooler have never managed to find a way past the cup specialists. Since my last post, Pooler had extended their unbeaten run to sixteen in the Championship with wins against Glynneath (34-13) and at Dunvant (10-34) so must have felt confident that an upset against their illustrious Premiership opponents was on the cards.

This was my first visit to Parc Y Scarlets and it is certainly pretty impressive. The contrast with the other venues that Pontypool have played at this season couldn’t be starker. In the convivial surroundings of the Quinnell Lounge it was immediately clear that the Pooler Army was out in force and would surely outnumber the home support.

When we took our seats, we were presented with the eerie spectacle of a virtually deserted ground. All the spectators were seated in the middle of one stand and the rest of the stadium was empty. You could not imagine that much home advantage was going to be gained from such an environment. Indeed most of the noise was coming from the vociferous Pooler fans with little to be seen or heard from the Llanelli faithful.

The first ten minutes or so gave Pooler a warm welcome to Premiership rugby as Llanelli moved the ball slickly left and right looking highly dangerous. The away defence stood firm, however, and knocked the Llanelli attackers back time after time eventually gaining relief by winning a penalty.

Now it was time for Pontypool to show what they could do - and how! Quick broke down the left touchline and after interpassing with Usher scored in the corner. Agonisingly Jones’ conversion hit the post and stayed out but Pooler were in the lead at 0-5. The Pooler fans roared their appreciation.

Pontypool really got to grips with the match with the pack gaining a level of ascendancy and the half backs controlling the game well.  The game ebbed and flowed but the away side struck again with a Jones penalty to make it 0-8. Pontypool looked the more likely to score and as half time approached had a series of scrums under the Llanelli posts. Unfortunately they were unable to capitalise on the excellent field position and the home side cleared their lines.

In injury time Llanelli were awarded a penalty which Williams converted to make the score at the interval 3-8. Still very much all to play for but Pontypool had given the home side ample warning that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Llanelli started the second half strongly and almost immediately closed the gap to 6-8 with a penalty. Pontypool responded powerfully but another promising position near the Llanelli failed to yield any points. Shortly afterwards an errant kick and a rare defensive lapse led to Williams scoring a try for Llanelli. Even though the conversion missed, the home side were in the lead for the first time at 11-8. How would Pooler respond to this setback?

The answer was with plenty of guts and no little skill. The arrears were soon cleared with another Jones penalty (11-11) and from then on it was all Pooler as they smelled victory. They played the best rugby of the match as they set off in search of a winning score. Substitute hooker Watkins scored a well-deserved try in the right corner after an excellent passage of play. The missed conversion left the score at 11-16 and those of us who bear the scars of previous encounters still worried that the home side might still find a moment of inspiration.

We needn’t have fretted. Pontypool retained control of the match and another penalty from Jones opened up an eight point gap at 11-19 and we were able to breathe a little easier. Far from sitting back, Pontypool continued to press until the final whistle.  The Pooler fans roared with delight - their team had achieved a famous victory.

When you calm down and think about the game you realise that this was a victory that Pontypool thoroughly deserved. The whole team played out of their skins and wanted to win more that bit more that their opponents. They were not to be denied. Hearty congratulations to all involved as this was truly a team effort. Let’s hope for a home draw in the next round.

Next weekend I make the trip to Rome for the Six Nations opener for Wales. It will be fascinating to see the side that is selected with, second row apart, plenty of conundrums to solve. Will the six day turnaround before the England game be taken into account I wonder? Wales certainly need a winning start as things will get appreciably tougher from there on in with any more potential wins probably against the odds.

Meanwhile I will miss yet another Pooler game as they travel to Skewen next Saturday. They will need to come down to earth quickly as nothing can be taken for granted in the Championship.

Fantastic win Pooler, you did us proud!

Bah Humbug!

A barren period over the festive break for Pooler fans as there was no match after the Newbridge fixture on the 17^th of December. Perhaps it is my age, but I get little joy out of going out in the cold to watch some other person’s favourite team play somebody else’s favourite team. So I tend to take to the couch and watch miscellaneous matches on the TV – at least you can flick to another channel if it becomes too much like hard work. It is probably just as well that Pontypool didn’t play as if they had played, say, a couple of matches there would only have been five league games left for the remaining four months of the season. As it is, there are only seven to look forward to. Let’s hope we can do a job on Llanelli and have a bit of cup rugby to supplement our meagre diet. The bad news for me is that I am going away for a couple of weeks and will miss three, yes three, of those precious seven matches. Aargh! Championship rugby has become a rare resource indeed.

Meanwhile on the couch I did watch quite a lot of the Welsh Regions battling it out in the much trumpeted local derbys. Rugby was a pretty rare resource in all four matches too as the Regions seemed to have adopted the style of the national team in the autumn internationals. Plenty of endeavour but skill levels lacking for large swathes of the time. Yes of course there were some bright spots and if you packaged a twenty minute combined highlights from the four matches it might look good but overall it was pretty disappointing stuff. The kicking duels in the Dragons v. Ospreys with crowd chanting “Ole” put the tin hat on a dismal series of matches. If the other games were turkeys then this was the parson’s nose. East Wales definitely came off second best overall with Ospreys the pick of the four regions in an eminently forgettable quartet.

As you can gather, these matches didn’t really make sparkling entertainment so quite a lot of channel hopping was the order of the day. Rugby from England and Ireland looked to be a couple of notches up in terms of skill and speed of thought and deed. Rugby in Wales is definitely seems to be drifting inexorably off the Northern Hemisphere pace let alone the Southern Hemisphere pace. I did watch a bit of Pontypridd v. Cross Keys in the Premiership and that was quite impressive at times so perhaps it is not all bad – clutching at straws here. Perhaps the plastic pitch at Sardis Road helped to make it a more open game. It must have been a lot easier to play on than the mud flats of Rodney Parade yesterday.

I just reread this and it is quite a depressing way to start the New Year. On a positive note Pontypool are sitting at the top of the Championship with an unbeaten record and have been playing some good rugby. Long may that continue.

Wishing all in Pontypool and beyond a successful and peaceful 2017.