Pontypridd 16 vs Aberavon 25

Pontypridd’s first league game of the New Year ended with a 16-25 loss at Sardis Road.

Pontypridd chased after the score for most of the game and were ultimately taken down by the Wizards.

They invested Aberavon’s half early on in the game, with Jake Lloyd kicking for a 50-22 on the 5 minute mark, but failed to make anything of their line-out.

For the first twenty minutes of the game most of the play was contained in between both teams’ 22, neither side managing to gain the upper hand.

Aberavon were the first to do so. They won a scrum on Ponty’s 5 meter line after Ponty were forced to kick the ball out of bounds under pressure. 3 minutes later, following two unsuccessful scrums, Aberavon were awarded a penalty try as they ploughed through the opposition pack.

But Ponty came back immediately. Dale Stuckey got to the ball before anyone else from the restart, and offloaded it to Cally James who barged behind the try line. Jake Lloyd’s conversion made it 7-7.

Both teams then both scored a penalty, as Lloyd answered Chris Banfield’s effort, again from the restart.

Right before half-time, Banfield put his team in front again, this time with a try, profiting for scrum half Rhodri Cole’s nice work around the ruck close to Ponty’s line. Cole passed the ball to his winger who beat the last man to score in the corner, but Banfield failed to convert.

Half-Time: Pontypridd 10-15 Aberavon

6 Minutes into the second half, Aberavon’s scrum proved superior to Pontypridd’s again, as they regained possession from a Pontypridd scrum inside their 22, leading Andrew Waite to crash behind the line. 10-22.

Pontypridd reduced the lead with two penalties from Jake Lloyd, one of them from halfway right on the hour mark.

The Black and Whites’ defence kept them in the game, as they won a number of penalties inside their own half from turnovers. But they were unable to capitalise on these, as they failed to win a lineout of theirs in Aberavon’s 22 and failed find touch all together minutes later.

Aberavon kept on pushing and in the last 5 minutes, they were awarded a penalty inside Ponty’s 22 which Banfield converted, denying Ponty the bonus point.

Full-Time: Pontypridd 16-25 Aberavon

Ponty’s next fixture is set to be away to Newport February 17^th, under S4C’s Thursday night lights.

– Zacharie Johnson-Pillon @zjpsport

Pontypridd:

15. Llywarch ap Myrddin. 14. Morgan Richards. 13. Bradley Roderick (Garyn Payne). 12. Ceri Morris. 11. Dale Stuckey. 10. Jake Lloyd. 9. Joel Raikes (Dafydd Buckland)

1. Ben Stephens (Tom Harper). 2. Nathan Huish (Ieuan Morris), then off for (Tom Devine). 3. Morgan Bosanko. 4. James Little. 5. Chris Dicomidis (Jack Pope). 6. Kristian Parker (c) (Cai James). 7. Cally James (Sion Parry). 8. Joe Miles

Subs: 16. Ieuan Morris. 17. Tom Devine. 18. Tom Harper. 19. Jack Pope. 20. Sion Parry. 21. Cai James. 22. Dafydd Buckland. 23. Garyn Payne.

Try: Cally James

Conversion: Lloyd

Penalties: Lloyd x 3

Aberavon:

15. Jonathan Phillips. 14. Chris Banfield. 13. Chay Smith. 12. Will Price ©. 11. Stef Andrews. 10. Joe Thomas. 9. Rhodri Cole.

1. Rowan Jenkins. 2. Luke Davies. 3. Geraint James. 4. Shay Smallman. 5. Sam Williams. 6. Ashton Evans 7. Lee Purnell. 8. Andrew Waite

Subs 16. Frankie Jones. 17. Aled Thomas. 18. Joe Gage. 19. Ieuan Davies. 20. Joe Tomalin Reeves. 21. Rhodri Hughes. 22. Rhys Fawcett. 23. Chris Davies.

Tries: Penalty-try, Banfield, Waite

Conversions: Banfield

Penalties: Banfield x 2

Referee: Ben Whitehouse

Assistant referees: Simon Rees and John Darcy

Golden Bob & WRU MOTM – Cally James