Cardiff 13 – 23 Pontypridd

Pontypridd prove a point and send a message to WRU, you will not bully us into accepting Cardiff as our regional team. We’re still here and we won’t go away as verses of ‘I will never be a blue!’ boomed around Rodney Parade…

Pontypridd have done it once again, and are heading to Cardiff for the Cup final after beating Cardiff 23 - 13 at Newport. After a scrappy first half, the Commandos came out guns blazing and put Cardiff firmly under the heel. A drop goal from an under pressure Dai Flanigan sealed Pontypridd's Cup Dreams.

Pontypridd were lead out by two of their Mini rugby stars Owain and Dewi Morris who play for Pontypridd Under 8's and 9's respectively. Enthused by these two little dynamo's it wasn't long before Pontypridd opened the scoring as man-of-the-match Tom Riley made a fine break and sent centre partner Dafydd Lockyear clear for a wonderful try that was dully converted by Dai Flanagan. The Cardiff pack were playing extremely well and it was a superb rolling maul from a line-out that led to a try for prop Geraint Morris, a former Pontypridd player himself and product of Porth Harlequins.

Pontypridd lost their captain early in the match as Dale ‘Chief’ McIntosh was carried off with a rib injury, disrupted by this Pontypridd lost the lead when Nick Macleod slotted a penalty for the men in blue. But soon afterwards the Pontypridd scrum-half Gareth Jones made a cracking break, feeding the ball to the pack where a sharp pop-up ball from the floor sent his front-row partner Scott Roberts in for Pontypridd's second try that was again converted by Dai Flanagan.  

Fly-half Flanagan's second conversion made it 14-8, but the Blue and Blacks' back row led a determined fight back. After a series of sharp passing and tough exchanges, ex-Pontypridd number eight James Malpas burst over for an unconverted try , despite protestations from the Pontypridd players of the ball not being grounded. This left Pontypridd with a 14-13 lead at the break.

Ponty went up a gear in the second period, shutting out Cardiff while Flanagan added nine more points from the boot.  The first two kicks were deserving penalties after continued infringement by a desperate Cardiff defence, as the Pontypridd pack stepped up a gear, supported by their quick and Powerful backs.

But it was the Pontypridd outside-half Dai Flanagan who would have the final say as he coolly slotted a 78th-minute drop goal from out wide that effectively sealed the match for Pontypridd. Despite five minutes of injury time that was spent in the Pontypridd twenty-two, Cardiff had no answer for the valleys clubs determination and resilient defence. With ‘Ole! Ole! Ole!’ ringing around the ground amongst  verses of ‘I will never be a blue!’ the referee eventually blew the final whistle as the black and white army went wild…

It was nice to see a Ponty influence in the Cardiff side, with both their try scorers being ex-Pontypridd stars. And it was nice to see the likes of Sweeney, Sidoli, Gethin Jenkins, Ian Gough and others 'regional' players all supporting the Black and Whites (yeh...some of you may wear Blue...but there's no Blue blood in there). Infact the BBC had a difficult job to gain an unbias or even a Cardiff perspective. They tried to interview some Newport/Gwent players for a neutral perspective, but could only find former Ponty players amongst their ranks, then they tried to get a Cardiff perspective and again it was ex-Ponty players in the box...  Says it all really...  We are going to Cardiff. And we are going to win.  OLÉ!!!

Pontypridd try scorers: Dafydd Lockyear and Scott Roberts.

Dai Flanagan kicked two conversion, two penalties and a drop goal.

Cardiff try scorers: Geraint Morris and James Malpas.

Nick Macleod kicked one penalty

Man-of-the-match: Tom Riley (Pontypridd)

Cardiff: J. Roberts, E. Jones, D. Hewitt, R. Davies, Andrews, Macleod, Isaacs, Anderson, Morris, Leaman, N. Trevett, N. Trevett, Meredith, Stamatakis, Malpas, Gravell.
Replacements: J. Hill, R. Gill, C. Jones, Lewis, Coles, Murphy, Hampson.

Pontypridd: Pocock, Clayton, Riley, Lockyear, Nuthall, D. Flanagan, G. Jones, S. Williams, Davies, S. Roberts, McIntosh, Harrington, L. Evans, Strong, R. Shellard.
Replacements: Dickens, Matthews, Stoddart, Phillips, R. Harford, Powell, Dikomedis.

Referee: Hugh Watkins (WRU).

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