Ponty battle to hard fought win over the Quins at the House of Pain

It was not a match for the rugby purists, rarely scaling the heights of entertainment, but Pontypridd’s home win over Carmarthen Quins on Saturday 28th April was hard fought, physical and feisty.

Ponty battled their way to a 24pts to 20 victory to keep in touch at the top of the Premiership table, holding third place just three points behind their opponents Carmarthen but with a game in hand.

There was relief and satisfaction amongst the Ponty squad who celebrated a valuable win at the House of Pain.

Assistant coach Gareth Wyatt was happy with his players’ achievement.

“It was a fantastic win for us against one of the form teams in the division” said Wyatt. “It wasn’t pretty, not the best we’ve played this season, and it was tight right to the very end, but we’ll take that result.

“There were big performances from some of the usual suspects, the more senior players in the squad, but it was also great to see Alex Knott coming in for his debut and putting in a try scoring contribution. Overall it was a big plus and gives us momentum into another big home game against Cardiff next weekend.”

Captain Rhys Shellard led by example throughout the game and was relieved to claim the win.

“We were up against a top team today who had just beaten Merthyr on their own patch” said Shellard, “and we needed a performance to claim an important win. It was very pleasing again to see some youngsters in the squad making their mark against experienced opponents.”

The last word rightly went to debutant centre Alex Knott who was nominated as WRU man of the match.

“To play in a game like this was a huge step up for me” said Knott. “It was fast and physical but a great experience for me and one that I enjoyed. We didn’t see much of the ball for long periods of the game but made the most of our limited chances. To score a try on my Ponty debut was a dream come true, and to contribute to a very important win for the team.”