Pontypridd 48 vs Newcastle Emlyn 7

Pontypridd returned to winning ways at Sardis Road in the Admiral Welsh Premiership with a convincing 48-7 win over Newcastle Emlyn.

A hat-trick of tries for wing Sam Talbot was accompanied by a brace for Stuart Floyd-Ellis and scores from Rob Jones, Jude Williams and Garyn Smith.

It didn’t take long for Ponty to open the scoring when a neat miss pass from Garyn Smith put Sam Talbot into space in the corner and the right wing did well to stretch out to score after just forty seconds. Fly-half Jacob Symes added the conversion to give his side a 7-0 lead.

Emlyn’s first chance of the game came following a couple of penalties going against Ponty, which gave them field position via a lineout in the opposing 22.

After Ponty initially defended the rolling maul, a tap penalty move brought the visitors their first points of the match through fullback Bleddyn Morgan. Outside centre Mike Jones’ conversion levelled the scores at 7-all.

An opportunity went begging for the hosts in the 26^th minute from a lineout five meters out from the Emlyn tryline – the throw missed the intended target of Kris Parker and the visitors cleared their lines with handling errors quickly becoming the theme of the opening half an hour.

Moments later, Ponty were awarded a penalty after a side entry in the breakdown, the hosts kicked to the corner and after a strong shove in the rolling maul Rob Jones was on the receiving end to score.

The hosts shifted into another gear before the interval, scoring twice in the half’s final few minutes, with wing Talbot finishing off a neat move to pick up his second try of the first 40.

In the half’s final play, the bonus point score was wrapped up for the hosts with wing Jude Williams breaking down the wing with centre Stuart Floyd-Ellis in support to cross in the corner. Symes’ conversion drifted wide but Ponty had a 22-7 lead at the interval.

HALF TIME – Pontypridd 22-7 Newcastle Emlyn

The home side started the second half in similar fashion to the first with a fifth try after 45 minutes. It was the visitors who attacked from their own half but a great read from Jude Williams saw him intercept the pass to score underneath the cross bar, leaving a simple conversion for Symes.

Ponty were reduced to 14 players on the hour mark when number 8 Lloyd Riley was sent to the sin-bin after he was caught offside in a frantic passage of play which ended with wing Gwion Jones being bundled into touch by a Jude Williams tackle in the corner.

Despite a couple of penalties going against the hosts, they managed to force an error from the visitors and were given the opportunity to clear their lines with a penalty after the away side were penalised for holding on.

Wing Talbot grabbed his hat-trick in the final 10 minutes from a first phase move off the back of a scrum. A miss pass from Garyn Smith put Stuckey into space and he drew the final defender to put Talbot over in the corner.

There were now just under five minutes left in the contest when centre Smith dummied his way through the Emlyn defence for a well-deserved try, which his brother Rhodri converted as the hosts passed 40 points on the scoreboard.

An eighth try followed with a couple of minutes left when Ponty exposed an overlap out wide which resulted in outside centre Floyd-Ellis crossing for his second of the afternoon.

After a knock on from Floyd-Ellis, referee Joseff Rees called full time with Ponty claiming the full five match points with a 48-7 victory.

Pontypridd travel to Ystrad Rhondda in their next fixture in the Admiral Welsh Premiership on Saturday 26th April, before returning to Sardis Road on Wednesday April 30^th when they welcome Neath.

FULL TIME – Pontypridd 48-7 Newcastle Emlyn (19/4/2025)

Match report – Iestyn Thomas

PONTYPRIDD –

15. Dale Stuckey. 14. Sam Talbot. 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 12. Garyn Smith. 11. Jude Williams (Josh Jackson). 10. Jacob Symes (Rhodri Smith). 9. Lucus Welch (Joey Williams).

1. Ben Stephens (Ben Drew). 2. Rob Jones (Garyn Daniel). 3. Morgan Bosanko (Kian Mattravers). 4. Mitch Barnard. 5. Kristian Parker (Ethan Evans). 6. Rhys Emmott. 7. Cally James (c) (Niall Moore). 8. Lloyd Riley.

Subs: 16. Kian Mattravers. 17. Ben Drew. 18. Garyn Daniel. 19. Niall Moore. 20. Ethan Evans. 21. Joey Williams. 22. Rhodri Smith. 23. Josh Jackson.

Tries: Sam Talbot x 3, Rob Jones, Stuart Floyd-Ellis x 2, Jude Williams, Garyn Smith

Conversions: Jacob Symes x 2, Rhodri Smith x 2

Yellow Card: Lloyd Riley

NEWCASTLE EMLYN –

15. Bleddyn Morgan. 14. Gwion Jones. 13. Mike Jones. 12. Andrew Owens. 11. Celt Davies. 10. Steffan Evans. 9. Dion Jones.

1. Emrys Davies (c). 2. Ioan Rees-Lewis. 3. Ifan Bryant. 4. Bleddyn Davies. 5. Aled Davies. 6. Callum Evans. 7. Sam F Evans. 8. Callum Williams.

Subs: 16. Reece Morris. 17. Teifi Thomas. 18. Gethin Davies. 19. Osian Dafis. 20. Dylan Davies. 21. Alex Williams. 22. Cian Jones. 23. Deiniol Rees.

Try: Bleddyn Morgan

Conversion: Mike Jones

Referee: Joseff Rees

Assistant Referee/Third Official: Tony Davies

Golden Bob Man of the Match: Sam Talbot