Youth BB League

Glamorgan Wanderers 23 – 8 Pontypridd Youth (1)

In the first of back to back games between the two sides vying for the League title, Wanderers took the spoils, both sides have one match left against each other next weekend and the winner of that match will win the league to guarantee promotion to the highest BA  League.

Pontypridd senior youth travelled to Glamorgan Wanderers for a rearranged league fixture. With both sides vying for top spot and promotion it was going to be a vital game for both sides, but with Ponty rocked by injury and player withdrawals they were forced to travel to the game without key backs and permit players from Youth 2 were forced into playing a number of regular back row players as emergency backs.

Glamorgan Wanderers played with the wind in the first half and took the game to Ponty from the start. Ponty were struggling to win quality line out ball, and with Glamorgan Wanderers quicker to the breakdown, Ponty struggled to get any quality ball. The Wanderers were quick to capitalise on mistakes and after a concerted period of pressure they forced Ponty into conceding a penalty that was converted to take an early deserved lead of 3-0

It was inevitable that another score would come, as the Wanderers clearly had the edge behind the scrum with their speedy back line, and it came in controversial fashion. A poor clearance kick by Ponty saw the Wanderers wing run deep into the Ponty half before knocked down in a tremendous tackle by Ponty's Sam Studley. Although the winger managed a great offload in the tackle he still decided to take the law into his own hands and started punching Studley while play went on...

The Wanderers crossed for a try, while the fight continued up-field however the referee decided to let the score stand and Wanderers took an early 8 nil lead. Ponty nearly opened their account with a long range penalty, but it struck the post and the danger was cleared. Ponty however started to get the upper hand at the scrum, and after a great take against the head, Ponty launched an attack that saw Aaron Atkins cross the try line to the left of the posts, only to be penalised for a double movement?

After another Scrum, great work from the front five saw Ponty win a penalty that this time was converted by Simms, to take the half time score to 8 -3. With the wind in their favour in the second half the Ponty coaches were not too concerned and felt young Ponty were still well in the contest. However Ponty had a disastrous start to the second half spilling possession in their own half and the Wanderers were able to launch a great counterattack.

At one stage it looked like Ponty had managed to stop the move, but the ball popped out and the Wanderers were able to cross in the corner for their second try that was unconverted to take a 13 - 3 lead. Ponty knew they had to dig deep to get back into the game, and unfortunately started to try to force 50/50 passes.

This was always going to be a high risk strategy, and when a move involving full back Simms broke down deep in the Wanderers 22, they were able to spin the ball quickly to their left wing who ran the length of the field for a gift of a try under the posts that was simply converted to take the score to Glamorgan Wanderers 20 Pontypridd 3.

Things started to go from bad to worse for Ponty and sometimes you start to realise it's simply not going to be your day. Firstly prop Marc Jones burst away from a powerful maul and crashed over under the posts for Ponty, only for the referee to disallow the score after claims from the Wanderers that Jones had made contact with one of his own players, then Ponty had lock James Sullivan sin-binned for not releasing the ball in the tackle when he was brought down just 10 metres out and with a host of Wanderers players lying on top of him...

Wanderers were able to clear their lines, and shortly afterwards Ponty were penalised again for handling on the floor and the Wanderers added another penalty to take the score to 23 -3. It was now simply a matter of playing for pride for Ponty, and after a sustained period of pressure, Ponty wing Billy Waters crossed on the left for an excellent try, although typically of their luck on the day, Simms narrowly missed the conversion. Wanderers 23 - Ponty 8.

When Sullivan returned to the fray, he was at the heart of a superb driving maul that saw Ponty drive play to just 5 metres short of the Wanderers line, but once again poor handling from the Ponty side saw them fumble the ball when they had a clear overlap, and the try scoring opportunity vanished. As if to rub salt into the wounds, Ponty lost Prop Sullivan and centre Dan Dearden with injuries in the last 5 minutes, and with no other substitutes available, both Aaron Atkins and Marc Jones saw out the remainder of the game carrying clear leg injuries.

Final Score on a very disappointing day for the Ponty Youth side, Glamorgan Wanderers 23 Pontypridd 8.

The two sides will meet again next week in Ponty (venue to be confirmed) for the last league fixture of the Season. Ponty man of the Match was Flanker Mike Davies, who played his heart out as an emergency winger for Ponty, but hopefully next week there will be a bit more commitment shown by the players who were due to play, but failed to turn up on the day.

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