Bargoed 28 vs Pontypridd 29

A last gasp penalty from fly-half Jacob Symes sealed a dramatic win for Pontypridd in the Welsh Premiership Cup quarter-final at Bargoed Park.

A try from Bargoed second-row James Locke was converted by Josh Prosser to give the hosts the lead in the final moments, before Symes kicked a penalty after a maul offence in the game’s final play to claim victory.

The Valley Commandos scored three tries, with hooker Rob Jones crossing twice and there was a try for centre Ioan Evans on his return from injury in what was his first Ponty start since rejoining the club in the summer.

The hosts had the first opportunity inside Ponty’s 22 after Pontypridd conceded three successive penalties, but instead of taking the points, Bargoed opted for the corner and despite a powerful rolling maul, an excellent Ponty turn-over ensured that they could clear their lines.

After the visitors were penalised for holding on, fly-half Josh Prosser kicked the first points of the match with a well struck penalty after 6 minutes.

Ponty’s response was positive when fullback Dale Stuckey put a kick in behind the Bargoed’s defence for a 50/22. Ponty threw into the lineout, set up a rolling-maul and responded immediately when hooker Rob Jones rumbled over for the first try of the match to give his side a 5-3 lead. Jacob Symes’ conversion went wide but Ponty were ahead.

Symes made amends for his first miss when he kicked a penalty from over 40 meters out to extend his side’s lead to five points after 13 minutes.

Both teams were looking to gain the upper hand in the arm wrestle through kicking, and a Joel Raikes box-kick forced an error from Bargoed wing Rhys Thomas. The following scrum saw the pack get a penalty with a dominant shove, but the kick to the corner and the resulting maul saw a slight Ponty knock-on.

Bargoed had a spell of possession as they looked for a second score of the afternoon and despite several phases, Ponty held out with a good defensive effort to force a forward pass.

With just a couple of minutes left before halftime, Ponty struck with their second try when inside centre Ioan Evans crossed in the corner on his ‘second’ debut after a few forward carries provided the backs with a platform.

Pontypridd led 13-3 but there was still time for some drama at the end of the half – in the final moments, referee Matt Turvey handed Ponty openside Cally James a yellow card for a breakdown infringement, Bargoed kicked to touch and they turned to the maul and hooker Morgan Edwards crossed from short-range. Josh Prosser’s conversion went over which closed the gap to three points with Ponty leading 13-10 at the interval.

HALF TIME – Bargoed 10-13 Pontypridd

An early spell of possession for the hosts was turned over at the start of the second half, prior to wing Charlie Morgan-Stephens becoming the second Ponty player to be given a yellow card from referee Turvey.

Eventually Bargoed took advantage of the numerical advantage when the ball headed out wide to second-row James Locke who scored in the corner. The conversion from Prosser drifted wide but the home side were in the lead.

Prosser extended the lead for the home side with a penalty after 55 minutes when the visitors were penalised for not rolling away – Bargoed scored 15 points during the two yellow card periods.

One thing that was working for Ponty was the scrum, and a strong push from the pack yielded an opportunity inside the Bargoed 22.

In a similar fashion to the first half, the rolling maul worked well and hooker Rob Jones burrowed over for his second try of the afternoon. Jacob Symes’ conversion gave the visitors a narrow two point lead on the hour mark.

From the kick-off restart, a Ponty knock-on gave the hosts another chance when referee Mr. Turvey awarded a penalty to Bargoed when Ponty were deemed to have scrummaged illegally – Prosser kicked his second penalty to give his side a single-point lead.

The scoreboard swung back and forth in the final quarter, Bargoed were pinged for not rolling away and Symes added a third penalty to regain the two point lead for Pontypridd in the 67^th minute.

Replacement scrum half Lucus Welch produced some good box-kicks to give the visitors some territory before a turnover from captain James gave Symes a simple kick to extend Ponty’s lead to five points.

But with this frantic cup tie heading towards the closing stages, it was Bargoed that responded with their third try when hooker Edwards broke through and offloaded to second-row James Locked who scored his second try of the afternoon. The scores were tied, but Josh Prosser’s conversion was successful and it looked to have won the game for the home side.

But, there was still time for even more late drama. Ponty restarted, Bargoed gathered but pressure at the rolling maul saw Bargoed penalised for an infringement which gave Jacob Symes a chance to win it in the game’s final play. The young outside-half stepped up and slotted his penalty-goal attempt to seal a dramatic victory to send Pontypridd into the Welsh Cup semi-finals and the travelling away supporters home happy.

Ponty return to league action next weekend when they welcome Bonymaen to Sardis Road on Saturday 2nd November.

FULL TIME – Bargoed 28-29 Pontypridd (26/10/2024)

Match report – Iestyn Thomas

PONTYPRIDD –

15. Dale Stuckey. 14. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 13. Garyn Smith. 12. Ioan Evans (Brandon Huntley). 11. Charlie Morgan-Stephens (Sam Talbot). 10. Jacob Symes. 9. Joel Raikes (Lucus Welch).

1. Ben Stephens. 2. Rob Jones (Jeff Young). 3. Morgan Bosanko (Kian Mattravers). 4. Mitch Barnard (Lloyd Riley). 5. Kristian Parker. 6. Cai James. 7. Cally James (c). 8. Joe Miles.

Subs: 16. Jeff Young. 17. Dan Cotterell. 18. Kian Mattravers. 19. Lloyd Riley. 20. Brandon Huntley. 21. Lucus Welch. 22. Jaydan Pugh. 23. Sam Talbot.

Tries: Rob Jones x 2, Ioan Evans

Conversion: Jacob Symes

Penalties: Jacob Symes x 4

Yellow Cards: Cally James, Charlie Morgan-Stephens

BARGOED –

15. Dylan Williams. 14. Josh Congreve. 13. Jordan Howells. 12. Matthew Lewis. 11. Rhys Thomas. 10. Josh Prosser. 9. James Leadbeater (c).

1. Kieron Brown. 2. Morgan Edwards. 3. Keagan Bale. 4. James Locke. 5. Luke Fleming-Jones. 6. Lewis Johnson. 7. Rhys Stephens. 8. Tom Rice.

Subs: 16. Louis Tovey. 17. Louis Jones. 18. Josh Parry. 19. Geraint Edmunds. 20. Keaton Edwards. 21. Tom Bainton. 22. Ashley Norton. 23. Will Gregory.

Tries: Morgan Edwards, James Locke x 2

Conversions: Josh Prosser x 2

Penalties: Josh Prosser x 3

Referee: Matt Turvey

Assistant Referee/Third Official: Jon Hardy