Fixture

After the heavy rain of the previous night the field was in remarkable condition.On Thursday evening we only had 14 players available with injuries and unavailability hitting us hard but we filled our bench with a couple of walking wounded and head coach Gavin Thomas.

We kicked off playing towards the river end of the field and after a couple of minutes Ponty broke out and won in penalty in front of our posts and the referee Mr David Todd-Jones marched us back a further 10 yards for throwing the ball away and outside half Ryan Miles slotted over a easy penalty. 

We then got on the front foot and began to put the Ponty defence under pressure and from a good attacking move up the left we had a three man overlap has centre Hnatiuk passed out to Captain Steffan Williams the Ponty fullback slapped the ball down for a deliberate knock on and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try.

We were know beginning to get on top in the first half and from a rare sortie into our 22 we gave away another penalty away in front of the posts and Miles duly put it through the uprights only for the referee to cancel it out because a Ponty player was in front of the ball a let off that would have cut our lead to a point.

With most of the play of this half being in the Ponty half we then increased our lead after a attack again down the left the ball found left wing Alun Tamlin who powered his way to the line carrying a couple of defenders on his back for a unconverted try.

With player's from both teams going down with injuries the game become a stop start affair and good play was few and fair between but a moment of magic from wing Luke McDonnell got our third try he received the ball from wing Josh Thomas chipped the ball over the defending wing then with a hack and chase he beat the defence to score a fine individual try for a 17pts to 3 lead.

Then in the final few minutes of the half Ponty got their only try of the match scored by player coach Cameron Davies, after some pressure up the right when they scored in the corner for a unconverted try.Which left the half time score 17pts to 8 in our favour.

We then kicked off the second half and to be fair to Ponty they gave it everything and they kept us pinned back in our half for most of the rest of this half but our defence held strong, but we were guilty of giving away penalties.

The game was still a stop start with both teams going down with injuries. Going into the final quarter we scored our fourth and bonus point try through fullback Thomas who broke from his own half to cross under the posts leaving defenders struggling and debutant outside half Nigel James who we signed from Nantyffyllon this week kicked the conversion.

Ponty came back at us but still they could not find a way through but they did miss a few kickable penalties.

we then scored our fifth try when Scrum half Jonathan Howells broke a couple of tackles and raced away leaving would be tacklers in his slipstream for a fine try which James converted, and the referee then blew for time.

Another win which keeps us 1 point behind leaders Bryncethin with a game in hand. 

Our next league encounter is on the 7th December when we travel to Pontrhydyfen for the return fixture for a rearranged game because of the WRU Bowl commitments of our both opponents Kick off will be at 2-30pm. All support welcome.