Penallta Youth 7 - 10 Pontypridd Youth (1)

On Saturday the Ponty Youth Senior team, looked to build on their mini revival after a number of weeks inaction with a difficult trip to Penallta. Penallta Youth this year are having a great season. Having a large squad attracting many players from neighbouring Rumney Valley teams, they have set the Dragons league alight this season and sit proudly at the top of Division two (The same level as Ponty Youth) with an undefeated league record to date. In fact Penallta had only lost one friendly fixture this term so it was going to be a difficult game for Ponty.

The Ponty A squad were once again rocked by a number of late withdrawals the day before the game, with Prop Marc Jones, Hooker Ross Griffiths and Centre Lewis Egal all unavailable due to School commitments. With Props Dean Brown and James Sullivan, and flanker Dafydd Gristock on the injured list, wing Nathan Evans injuring ankle ligaments in training and centre Rhys Lloyd struggling to shake off a bad bout of flu, Ponty were without a number of Key players. Replacement Hooker Cai Daniel and wings Lewis Williams and Ryan Hughes were also unavailable as was fullback/wing Max Padfield who has opted to join near neighbours Glyncoch.

To help offset this mini selection crisis, Ponty A looked to draft some of the B squad players in for the game, with utility forward Lee "Cannonball Griffiths answering the call for help and linking up with the A squad to make his debut for the Senior Youth. With so many backs unavailable, blindside flanker Alun Thomas returned to his former position of fullback, with Mike Davies stepping in at 6 and Ryan Owen making his debut at 7.

Penallta started the game very strongly and put Ponty under enormous pressure from their driving mauls. Ponty had no real answer to this power play other than to drag the maul down, but luckily for Ponty the penalties awarded to Penallta largely came to nothing. Both sides were tackling superbly and the pace of the rush defence of the Penallta backs was causing Ponty real problems behind the scrum. With the game 15 minutes gone, Ponty should have opened the scoring. Ponty flyhalf Lewis Smith, making his return after a broken jaw, cleverly chipped the onrushing defenders on the half way line.

With the Penallta full back out of position, Ponty's Sam Studley flyhacked the ball deep into the Penallta 22. With Studley looking to win the race, he was cynically hauled down. The referee signalled advantage to Ponty and with Dan Dearden being Ponty's only chaser, behind two Penallta players the threat looked over, however inexplicably the two Penallta players both went for the ball fumbling it over their try line for the chasing Dearden to ground what seemed a lucky try.

However the referee believing Dearden had no chance of beating the two players to the loose ball, blew to award a Penalty for the challenge on Studley. Ponty were frustrated that they had not been allowed the advantage, and when emergency centre Rhys Simms was narrowly wide with the penalty Ponty were left to rue the cost of the referees decision.

With Penallta still largely dominant it was Ponty who were forced on the defensive for the last 10 minutes of the first half, where Penallta started to use their pacey backs to good effect. When Ponty were penalised for off side, Penallta opted to kick for the corner and try to drive a 5 metre line out. Ponty attempted the "truck and Trailer" defensive move that had worked so well against Treorchy, however the referee believed that a Ponty player was trapped in the maul, and wrongly penalised No8 Dean Maisey for coming off side and tackling the ball carrier.

While Ponty protested the decision, Penallta took a quick tap Penalty with their big inside centre crashing over through some weak tackling under the posts for a simple converted try. Half Time Score Penallta 7 Pontypridd 0

In the Second half Ponty were forced to make a number of changes with Hooker Sam Oliver and Prop Nathaniel Williams forced to leave the field, being replaced by Lee Griffiths and Owain Kingsbury, and for safety reasons the game switched to passive scrummaging. Ponty had also decided to vary their play, and conscious of the superior pace of Penallta out wide and their powerful maul, Ponty switched to a quick ruck, pick and drive game.

This tactic immediately changed the nature of the game, as it nullified the advantage of the Penallta rush defence, and was tiring the big Penallta forwards who were struggling to cope with the speed of the play at the ruck area. Ponty started to make significant inroads into the Penallta defence, as their forwards started to tire, gaps appeared around the fringes of the ruck which were ruthlessly exploited by the Ponty forwards, with Dean Maisey, Mike Davies, Lee Griffiths, Ryan Owen and Christian Hitt punching hole after hole in the Penallta ruck defence, and with scrum half Sam Studley showing excellent vision, skill and power to call the drives, Penallta's dominance quickly faded away.

Penallta started to infringe at the ruck to try to stop the Ponty drives, but were penalised and were lucky to escape unpunished when Simms was short with his penalty attempt. It was after another series of impressive pick and drives, involving Studley, Maisey and prop Dale Pugh, that giant lock Geraint Rowley burst through a hole 20 metres from the line, Rowley powered through the attempted tackle of the full back, and then showed fantastic skills for a big man to dummy and slip out of the tackle of the wing before crashing over for a brilliant try that was converted by Simms. Penallta 7 Ponty 7  

With Ponty now dominant, another score seemed imminent, and it came from the boot of Simms after Penallta were again penalised for illegally trying to stop Ponty's quick ruck play. Penallta 7 Ponty 10. Ponty were in no mood to ease off and with the scenting a quality scalp, they continued with their impressive forward drives, and were very unlucky when after a brilliant series of drives from the forwards, started and finished by young Lee Griffiths, Ponty seemed to have scored another try.

Griffiths had been driven over the try line by his pack after a number of pick and drives, however the referee was unsighted and couldn't see Griffiths place the ball to the left of the pile of bodies, awarding a scrum 5 to Ponty instead. Frustratingly for Ponty, they over complicated a move at the back of the scrum, and were penalised for blocking allowing Penallta to clear the threat. With Penallta starting to lose their formation, Ponty now started to unleash their backs, and firstly Smith gave a fantastic pass to centre Dearden who made inroads before unleashing wing Billy Waters who beat his opposite number and made 20 metres before being tackled into touch.

Next it was fullback Alun Thomas who pounced on a poor clearance kick and counter attacked beating a number of tacklers before passing to wing Aaron Steverson who was unable to collect with the try line begging. Ponty kept up the pressure and again after some powerful short drives the forwards were unable to unleash Studley and Smith. They broke blind and fed lock Rowley who was wide on the left wing. Rowley shimmied past two attempted tackles and looked as though he could score himself, however he unselfishly threw an overhead pass to Steverson who handed off his opposite number and drove for the line, only to lose the ball in an excellent cover tackle.

With the game entering its final minute, Ponty were again well on top and after a series of drives from Maisey, Griffiths, Pugh and Hitt, Scrum half Studley was again held up on the Penallta line unable to ground the ball, and frustratingly for Ponty this was the last move of the game with no time to take the attacking 5 m scrum.

Final Score Penallta 7 Pontypridd Senior Youth 10

There were some eye-catching performances on the day for Ponty, with Lee Griffiths having an outstanding debut, Dean Maisey bravely playing on after a pretty nasty first half head injury and showing the kind of impressive form he displayed last season. Sam Studley had another impressive game behind the scrum, and Alun Thomas was a revelation at full back, proving himself an accomplished footballer despite not having played full back for a few years.

Man of the Match however went to Geraint Rowley who was impressive in the tight and loose and showed silky skill and determination in taking his try, which his father would have been proud of. Well done Lads. 

Comments (1)

	1. 11-01-2008 15:39
	There's only one Geraint Rowley!!! and what a silky character he is!! Guest

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved