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Page 1 of 2 Last Saturday Ponty travelled to Swansea to play Ospreys National Division 2 side Morriston.
Ponty were keen to get the heartache of the controversial cup match against Llantrisant behind them. Sadly for Ponty their injury curse seems to be getting even worse, with Ponty Captain and Wales Boys Club fly-half Lewis Smith, suffering a badly broken jaw in the controversial tackle he was on the receiving end of, late in the game against Llantrisant. Also unavailable for Ponty were scrum half Sam Studley (knee) Centre Lewis Egal (broken leg), Prop Dean Brown (ankle), wing Lewis Williams (hamstring), wing Steven Parker (back), Lock Drew Evans (knee), Centre/Fullback Ryan Hughes and centre Tom Newberry ( both work commitments), Flanker Mike Davies (suspended) Prop Dale Pugh (holiday). So a new look Ponty back line faced Morriston with wing Billy Waters playing at Scrum half alongside Fullback Rhys Simms stepping in to cover at flyhalf. Wing Max Padfield switched to fullback and Nathan Evans stepped in for his first start at wing. The match was played in a gail force wind sweeping diagonally across the field, and Ponty elected to play with the wind in the first half. With a untried back line, and against tough National division opponents, Ponty opted to keep the game tight and played a 10 man game, with Simms using the conditions brilliantly to keep Morriston pinned in their half. The Ponty pack battled brilliantly and used the maul to great effect to put Morriston under significant pressure. It was from a great forward drive, with prop James Sullivan and lock Geraint Rowley to the fore that Ponty had their first chance for points when Morriston hauled down a maul 30 metres out. Simms optimistically opted for goal into the face of the cross wind and despite striking the ball well, the wind just dragged the kick a metre wide of the post. Morriston looked dangerous with ball in hand and when they moved the ball wide, they caused Ponty problems, however credit to the makeshift Ponty midfield, they tackled their hearts out and covered each other magnificently to ensure all Morriston attacks fizzled out. Billy Waters was particularly impressive for Ponty, regularly robbing his opposite number at the base of the scrum to get Ponty back on the attack. With the first half drawing to a close, Ponty were able to launch another series of forward drives after great work between hooker Sam Oliver and lock Owen Kingsbury. Ponty rolled and rumbled the ball deep into the Morriston half and when the Morriston 4 illegally used the boot at the collapsed maul, Simms was on hand to open the scoring with a well struck penalty to end the half Morriston 0 Pontypridd 3. Half time saw Oliver make way for Cai Daniel at hooker, and Christian Hitt replace Nathaniel Williams at lock who had suffered a recurrence of his long standing shoulder injury. Straight from kick off Ponty resumed the attack and were very unlucky not to get their first try. Morriston ran the kick off back at Ponty, but great tackling from openside Dafydd Gristock saw the Morriston centre felled in his tracks, Gristock brilliantly jackled the ball free and fed Waters who spotted a huge gap on the blindside of the ruck and used his blistering pace to tear through the Morriston defence before passing to centre Rhys Lloyd who raced in wide out for what seemed a try. However at the ruck a number of forwards had started fighting, and the referee was forced to stop play to restore order, cruelly denying Lloyd a well-deserved debut try. Once order was restored Ponty were awarded the put in at the scrum as the side in possession going forward, but it was scant reward for the efforts of Waters and Lloyd. Ponty were further hit when replacement hooker Cai Daniel suffered a neck injury at a ruck, Daniel being replaced by Ross Griffiths. Griffiths was quick to make his mark, and after an excellent set line out move, Ponty were unlucky not to get a try when despite the forwards crashing over the try line, the referee ruled there had been an accidetal offside. Next it was the turn of Waters to shine again, and after stealing possession at a Morriston scrum from his opposite number, Waters sprinted away using power and pace to hand off two attempted tackles and was only denied by a brilliant covering tackle that drove Waters into the corner flag seconds before he touched down. With the game on a knife edge, nerves were starting to show in both sides, Ponty who were now playing into the wind were forced to keep the ball in hand as clearance kicks were extremely difficult, whilst they knew that any penalties conceded in their half were more than kickable on the right side and centre of the field. Ponty once again reverted to their forward platform and great work from Hooker Griffiths and Lock Hitt saw Ponty launch another driving line out. With Geraint Rowley, Sullivan and Alun Thomas powerfully driving the maul, Ponty took play up to the edge of the 22, before Ponty no 8 Dean Maisey burst away from the side of the maul to cross wide out without a hand being laid on him. Frustratingly for Ponty, the score was not confirmed as the referee felt the ball had gone forward to Maisey in the maul. With the game deep in injury time Morriston won possession and spun the ball wide where their eye catching centre burst away with his wing in support, it looked like Ponty were to suffer further heartbreak as they easily broke the Ponty defensive line, however great work from full back Padfield took the ball carrier down, and although he was able to pass to his supporting wing, superb covering by Waters and Dearden saw a double tackle that forced the wing to lose the ball and with the knock on the referee brought the game to an end. Ponty were jubilant, they have had a difficult few months and with the number of key first team players unavailable, this was a classic case of players putting bodies on the line to win ugly against top quality opposition. Both sets of coaches and the match official all complimented the players of both sides on the game, and it is fair to say the final score of Morriston 0 Pontypridd 3 was not a true reflection of the quality of the rugby played by both sides in difficult conditions. Ponty man of the match was Scrum Half Billy Waters who was picked out by the referee and coaches for his eye catching, all action performance.
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