By Webmaster
April 21 2003

Pontypridd will feel disappointed after being denyed two tries which may have seen them claim a victory over their Capital City rivals Cardiff. Unfortunately Ponty are now out of the Principality Cup and for a full match report and player ratings read on.

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THE ALTERNATIVE MATCH REVIEW

Match Summary

    Pontypridd travelled to Cardiff Arms Park hoping to pick up a win which would see them progress to the semi final stages of the Principality Cup. However, referee for the match, Hugh Watkins had other ideas as Ponty, who were by far the better team got robbed of victory against their city rivals.

    The first half started well for Ponty as they were seeing lots of the ball and were gaining the hard yards through the forwards until the tenth minute when an offence committed by Bath bound Duncan Bell allowed Cardiff to open up a 3 - 0 lead through a penalty by outside half Iestyn Harris. Tempers then flared between the two teams and as a result of a few flying arms, Peter Rogers and Nick Kelly were in the blood bin being patched up. Minutes later things erupted again but this time Hugh Watkins had said enough was enough and sent second rowers Brent Cockbain and John Tait to the sin bin.

    Things seemed to cool down then as Ponty, who dominated much of the play in the opening half tried desperately to break through the Cardiff defence. Outside half Neil Jenkins tried and failed with a penalty attempt which was followed by a charged down drop goal attempt. Then as the half was coming to an end Ken Fourie was sent to the sin bin for persistently collapsing the scrum and just as Cardiff thought they had relieved the presure whick was being applied by Ponty, Brett Davey got the ball in his own half and launched an attack. Emyr Lewis and Jonny Bryant demonstrated good handling and offloading skills which allowed scrum half Gareth Baber to cross in the corner for the games first try. Unfortunately Jenkins failed to add the extras from out wide but made amends minutes later by slotting over a penalty deep into first half injury time and an added bonus for the Valleys side was that ex-Ponty flanker Martyn Williams was sent to the sin bin for preventing the ball from being released whcih could have resulted in a try.

    In the second half Ponty came out hoping to build on their lead with Cardiff down to 13 men but all they could manage was a Jenkins penalty to extend their lead to 11- 3. However, immediately from the restart Cardiff responded with a try from Jamie Robinson. Winger Emyr Lewis misjudged the ball in the air and he knocked it on into the arms of Robin Sowden Taylor who simply had to pass out to Jamie Robinson to go over in the corner. Harris failed to add the extras but as Fourie and Willaims came back from their 10 minutes in the bin Cardiff could feel proud that they held out the opposition whilst being two players down.

    Sustained pressure was then applied from Cardiff which on two occasions almost resulted in tries. Firstly only a deliberate knock on by Bryant could stop them from scoring (which saw Bryant go to the bin) and on the second occasion Peter Muller failed to gather a cross field kick from Iestyn Harris which would have resulted in a try out wide.

    However, Cardiff continued to apply pressure and eventually they broke through Ponty's resilient defence with Martyn Williams being the player who crossed the line. However, Harris again missed the conversion and so Cardiff were now in a 13 - 11 lead. Immediately from the restart Ponty went on the attack and as Baber broke away into the Cardiff 22 it looked as though Ponty were about to score a try but referee Hugh Watkins seemed to have harshly penalised Ponty for a technical offence at the ruck and from the resulting penalty as Ponty players were expecting Harris to relieve the Cardiff pressure by kicking for touch Ryan Powell took a quick tap and raced upfield before the ball eventually fell into the arms of Rhys Williams who touched down under the posts. Harris made no mistake with the conversion and as a result Cardiff had extended their lead to 20 - 11.

    In the last 20 minutes the controversy began as Ponty, who were constantly causing problems for the Cardiff defence had tries disallowed from Gethin Jenkins who was adjudged to have been held up by the Cardiff pack and then moments later a try from Richard Parks and Michael Owen in a combined effort was disallowed for a dubious accidental offside.

    Despite all the problems, Ponty continued to pile on the pressure and with just over 5 minutes remaining Michael Owen crossed the line for a try, converted by Davey to put Ponty back into contention at 20 - 18 down. However, replacement outside half Ceri Sweeney could not finish off a move he crafted himself and in injury time Brett Davey failed with a difficult penalty attempt from half way and so Cardiff finished off as undeserved 20 - 18 winners.

    For Ponty, despite being knocked out of one competition they are still in contention for the Parker Pen Cup and next Saturday they travel to Wycombe where they will face the London Wasps in the first leg of the semi final. However, if they are to come away with a win they will have to use Gareth Wyatt more effectively and the backs in general will have to work on some different moves as from last nights display they looked very predictable.

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