Pontypool 30 RGC 16
Saturday 6th April 2024
It was a nip and tuck first half where the homeside started on the front foot and looked to play quick ball.
They were rewarded when Mathew Powell crossed the line after 5 minutes.
The boot of Jarvis added a penalty to extend the lead, with his side taking points when they got in the RGC half.
RGC needed to get some score on the board and after a good break from Harri Ford and Efan Jones they got a penalty. Dion Jones nailed it between the posts.
Pooler extended the lead after a driving maul powered over and hooker Sam Scarfe claimed the try. Jarvis added the extras.
Dion Jones closed the gap for RGC with another penalty, as the scoreboard kept tikcking over.
The Gogs then had their best spell of the half, with multiple phases to edge to the line before Pon were penalised on a coupe of occasions. RGC needed to convert the possionion into points and duly did so when the ball arrived to Ford and he skipped and stepped to get over the whitewash. Jones converted.
RGC will be disappointed they couldn’t build on that from the restart and a minute p opened up the field before Matt Bancroft got his sides 3rd try of the half.
The hosts then looked for that bonus point try, but credit to the Gogs as the dug in and defended well.
Dion Jones added another penalty before half time to close the score to 4 points.
That was the last points on the board for RGC, as they didn’t dent the scoreboard in the 2nd half.
It always felt like the next score would be a crucial on in the game, and it was a fairly edgy start to the 2nd half as both sides looked to create an opening but didn’t want to be that expansive. That probably didn’t help the flow of the game, and it didn’t get much better as the half went on.
The pace and momentum of the game dropped as well, which probably favoured Pontypool with the lead in their favour. The breakdown area was looking complicated with Pontypool throwing plenty of bodies in and around the ball.
Christian Hone was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on 64 minutes.
That man advantage turned into points advantage when Scott Matthews went over for the Bonus Point try and Jarvis converted. In in the end was the game.
Breakdown wise it was messy, and the game never flowed or even started. It looked a difficult game to build any foundations and an even more difficult game to watch from the sidelines.
RGC forced a few passes to try and create an opening, and again killed any momentum, but the score was out of reach as the minutes ran down.
On the whistle Jarvis hit another penalty and the game was done.
Head Coach Ceri Jones and his side felt the disappointment of a 2nd half that failed to get going “I thought the 1st half was a good game with both side looking to play, and that just didn’t happen 2nd half. It was stop/start with the injury and the refereeing around the breakdown which just slowed everything up. We tried to use the wind to our advantage 1st half and get the ball behind them, but we didn’t take advantage or capitalise.
You can’t fault the endeavour of the players and we fronted up with Emyr Jones coming on early to make is debut, and we had Tal, Ellis, Charlie, Jack, Christian, Patrick and Osian. 19-year-olds all putting a shift in upfront.
We now lose Harri, Louie, Caio and Celt to the Wales U19s, and we will miss them over the next few weeks, which shows the impact they have had on the team this season.”
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