Pontypridd 48 vs Neath 10

Pontypridd returned to winning ways in the Indigo Premiership with a big bonus point win over Neath at Sardis Road.

Following two narrow defeats in recent weeks, Ponty ran in eight tries in a convincing 48-10 win.

The Valley Commandos opened the scoring after three minutes following a couple of grubber kicks from fullback Josh Phillips and winger Dale Stuckey, Sion Parry gathered the bouncing ball before offloading to scrum half Harvey Nash who dived over the try line.

Openside flanker Parry powered his way over the line in the 18^th minute after some good work from the Ponty forwards to steal a Neath lineout, Phillips added the simple conversion to increase the home side’s lead to 12-0.

A third try followed for the hosts when winger Liam Lloyd crossed in the corner following a couple of neat passes from Ben Burnell and Josh Phillips.

Neath responded with their first points of the afternoon through the boot of Steff Williams after Ponty were caught offside, 17-3 after half an hour.

Ponty wrapped up the bonus point in the 34th minute when superb breaks, firstly from Dale Stuckey and secondly from Chris Dicomidis, the latter giving an inside ball to blindside flanker Cally James who ran in to dot down under the posts. Phillips knocked over the conversion and the hosts found themselves with a healthy 24-3 lead.

That healthy lead was extended before the break when Ponty scored a 5th try. Yet again the backs spun the ball out wide to winger Liam Lloyd and the flyer could have crossed himself but he unselfishly provided an inside pass to Ben Burnell who scored in the corner to extend the lead to 29-3 lead at halftime.

HALF TIME – Pontypridd 29-3 Neath

Ponty kicked off the second half and just like the first, they started proceedings with an early score. Ben Burnell, who was impressing at inside centre put his midfield partner Garyn Smith through a gap and the outside centre stepped the final defender to finish with aplomb.

A seventh try followed for the hosts after an hour when replacement Joe Miles crashed over off the back of a scrum as Ponty passed the 40-point mark.

Captain Kristian Parker powered over for an eighth try for the hosts in the 75th minute before Neath’s efforts were rewarded when inside centre Sean Wilcox crossed under the posts for a consolation try, Kristian Jones added the extra two points.

Pontypridd will be looking to build momentum off the back of this victory when they travel to the Brewery Field to face Bridgend Ravens on Saturday January 20th.

FULL TIME – Pontypridd 48-10 Neath (13/1/2024)

Match report – Iestyn Thomas

PONTYPRIDD –

15. Josh Phillips (Louis Rochefort-Shugar). 14. Liam Lloyd. 13. Garyn Smith. 12. Ben Burnell. 11. Dale Stuckey. 10. Joseph Scrivens (Kyan Lewis). 9. Harvey Nash (Joel Raikes).

1. Tom Devine (Ben Stephens). 2. Curtis Greenslade (Gavin Parry). 3. Tom Harper (Morgan Bosanko). 4. Macauley Cook. 5. Chris Dicomidis (Joe Miles). 6. Cally James (Cai James). 7. Sion Parry. 8. Kristian Parker (c).

Subs: 16. Gavin Parry. 17. Ben Stephens. 18. Morgan Bosanko. 19. Cai James. 20. Joe Miles. 21. Joel Raikes. 22. Kyan Lewis. 23. Louis Rochefort-Shugar.

Tries: Harvey Nash, Sion Parry, Liam Lloyd, Cally James, Ben Burnell, Garyn Smith, Joe Miles, Kristian Parker

Conversions: Josh Phillips x 3, Ben Burnell x 1

NEATH –

15. Lewis Evans. 14. Llewellyn Hawkes. 13. Ryan Evans (c). 12. Sean Wilcox. 11. Ryan Griffiths. 10. Steff Williams. 9. Gruff Williams.

1. Jack Powell. 2. Sion Crocker. 3. Tim Ryan. 4. Matthew Davies. 5. Cai Arnold. 6. Jacob Blackmore. 7. Fergus Kneath. 8. Morgan Kneath.

Subs: 16. Mason Morgan. 17. Chris Morris. 18. Gareth Lloyd. 19. Elis Hopkins. 20. Dyfan Ceredig. 21. Ellis Lewis. 22. Kristian Jones. 23. Keiron Charles.

Try: Sean Wilcox

Conversion: Kristian Jones

Penalty: Steff Williams 

Referee: Simon Mills

Assistant referees: 1 – Dai Cambourne, 2 – Neil Perkins

Golden Bob Man of the Match: Garyn Smith

WRU Man of the Match: Dale Stuckey