Llangennech 13 vs Pontypridd 14

Pontypridd and Llangennech met for the first time in both clubs history on Saturday 21^st September 2024 in the Llanelli suburbs. The Welsh Premiership encounter between the two sides couldn’t have been any closer, but Ponty tries from Cally James and Joe Miles ensured the Valley Commandos returned home with four match points.

The heavy rainfall had disappeared and Ponty kicked the match off in glorious West Walian sun, and had an early chance to go into the lead when Lucus Welch was illegally played at a ruck. Unfortunately Jacob Symes’ early attempt at the posts drifted wide.

From the 22 metre restart Llangennech worked their way back upfield and won a penalty of their own. It was the turn of Bois y Llan skipper Shaun Edwards to point to the posts and flyhalf Steff Marshall got the first points of the game, 3-0 after three minutes.

From the restart Pontypridd won a penalty following some good work at the ruck from skipper Cally James, but unfortunately Ponty’s second attempt to register their first points was again not taken when Symes was unable to convert the penalty-goal.

In a fairly frantic opening first quarter Ponty struggled to settle into proceedings at first. A couple of charged down kicks caused the away side some problems, the second nearly leading to a try for Llangennech but the ball dribbled over the deadball line before it could be grounded.

Ponty’s first proper attack created a good opportunity following a penalty award which was kicked into touch, and the lineout was won. Pontypridd worked the ball left across the pitch but Oli Shepherd’s pass could not find Dale Stuckey.

Some inaccuracies from Ponty at the lineout in the first quarter kept giving the home side possession, and with that allowed Steff Marshall to ping the ball into Ponty’s 22, but the defence was strong and repelled everything Llangennech threw at them during this period.

Eighteen minutes were on the clock when the aforementioned Marshall doubled Llan’s lead to 6-0 after Ponty were penalised for being offside from a Dale Stuckey clearance kick.

Pontypridd continued to work hard to get themselves into the contest and were the better team for the majority of the rest of the first half, and got their first points in the 23^rd minute. Some good attacking play and multiple phases in the Llangennech 22 led to a couple of penalty awards. Ponty chose to go into the corner and a couple of phases after a lineout win they were rewarded when Cally James darted over. Symes’ conversion was successful and the away side led 7-6.

From the restart, Joe Davies broke out from the Ponty 22 and went on a superb run, chipped and chased putting the ball deep into Llangennech territory which forced them to gather and kick the ball out. Ponty won the line-out and attacked once again, Llan’s 22 zone now seeing all the rugby. More Ponty pressure saw Llangennech’s loosehead prop Iestyn Jones sin-binned for infringing. Ponty chose to take the scrum against seven men but a fumble at the base allowed Llan to clear their lines, and the chance to extend the lead came and went.

Ponty fullback Oli Shepherd was then sin-binned in the 37^th minute when, after chasing his own ‘up and under’ attempted to hack the loose bouncing ball he seemed to accidentally connect with a Llangennech player, and was given his marching orders as a result.

There was then some kick tennis before halftime prior to Joe Davies gathering and snuffing out a probing Steff Marshall kick which sat up just before Ponty’s tryline.

HALF TIME – Llangennech 6-7 Pontypridd

Llangennech kicked off the second half, Ponty gathered and Lucus Welch’s box-kick was returned with interest by Steff Marshall who found touch deep in Ponty’s 22. This gave the home side an opportunity to start building pressure at the start of the second period and they nearly reaped their rewards, but a last ditch Jacob Symes tackle stopped Llan hooker Callum Jenkins galloping under the posts. The home side should have got their first try of the afternoon in the 44^th minute but spilled the ball when trying to ground it on the Ponty tryline.

Pontypridd won the penalty at the resulting scrum and a clearing kick relieved the pressure. In the 54^th minute Llangennech skipper Shaun Edwards was the third player to enter the sin bin, referee Elliot Mayor gave him his marching orders for some foul play directed towards Kristian Parker on the floor.

As the clock approached the hour mark Ponty were battering away deep in Llangennech’s 22, powerful carries and efficient ball recycling was being equally matched by strong Llan defence, and defence won this particular battle when the referee awarded the home side a penalty at the breakdown.

Just after the 60 minute mark another good Ponty attack became fruitless when Joe Davies was penalised for holding on inside the Llangennech 22, the score was still 7-6 to Pontypridd at this stage. However, this was about to change in the 62^nd minute. Again, Ponty worked through the phases back inside Llangennech’s 22 and this time the dam burst when Joe Miles crashed over from close-range. Sam Talbot’s conversion gave Ponty a two-score buffer at 6-14.

In the 68^th minute Steff Marshall missed a penalty attempt to reduce Ponty’s lead to within a single score, before, a few minutes later Sam Talbot missed an attempt of his own so it was ‘as you were’ at 6-14.

However, Llangennech were about to give the match a grandstand finish after Ponty cleared their lines from inside their own 22 direct to touch, but the ball had been passed back in. Bois y Llan threw the ball into the lineout, secured possession and a few phases later Steff Marshall crashed over for a try. His conversion made it a single-point game at 13-14 with barely a minute left on the clock.

The dying seconds were tense and the home side had a half-chance to break through Ponty’s defence, the tackle was made, but the Llan player was held and illegally tried to return to his feet. Ponty were awarded the penalty, tapped it and booted it out to ensure they would return to Sardis Road with a hard-earned victory from their first away outing in 2024/25.

FULL TIME – Llangennech 13-14 Pontypridd (21/9/2024)

Match report – Geraint Thomas

PONTYPRIDD –

15. Oli Shepherd. 14. Joe Davies (Brandon Huntley). 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 12. Garyn Smith. 11. Dale Stuckey. 10. Jacob Symes (Sam Talbot). 9. Lucus Welch (Joel Raikes).

1. Ben Stephens (Dan Cotterell). 2. Rob Jones (Dylan Kelly). 3. Morgan Bosanko (Kian Mattravers). 4. Joe Miles. 5. Kristian Parker. 6. Cai James. 7. Cally James (c) (Dylan John). 8. Lloyd Riley.

Subs: 16. Dylan Kelly. 17. Dan Cotterell. 18. Kian Mattravers. 19. Cole Parry. 20. Dylan John. 21. Joel Raikes. 22. Sam Talbot. 23. Brandon Huntley.

Tries: Cally James, Joe Miles

Conversions: Jacob Symes, Sam Talbot

Yellow Card: Oli Shepherd

LLANGENNECH –

15. Callum Price. 14. Louis Rees. 13. Kalum Evans. 12. Wil Thomas. 11. Harrison Button. 10. Steff Marshall. 9. Gareth George.

1. Iestyn Jones. 2. Callum Jenkins. 3. Richard Bassett. 4. Ryan Morgans. 5. Sam Richards. 6. Rhys Morgan. 7. Shaun Edwards (c). 8. Jordan Saunders.

Subs: 16. Finn Thomas. 17. Tom Phillips. 18. Brandon Lee. 19. Aaron Howles. 20. Finlay Cooke. 21. Tristan Jones. 22. Eray Wilson. 23. Thomas M Davies.

Try: Steff Marshall

Conversion: Steff Marshall

Penalties: Steff Marshall x 2

Yellow Cards: Iestyn Jones, Shaun Edwards

Referee: Elliot Mayor

Assistant Referee/Third Official: Richard Hughes