Review of the 2017 – 18 season
A new broom was sweeping clean at Pontypridd RFC in the summer of 2017 as Justin Burnell made a return to the club as Head Coach, taking over from the departing Rob Sidoli.
Burnell’s arrival also saw the launch of the Valleys Rugby Initiative, laying a clear pathway of player development from Pontypridd Schools, through Coleg y Cymoedd and the University of South Wales.
There were changes in personnel, with an extended squad put together featuring players drafted in from neighbouring valley clubs – all in all it was clear that change was in the air as the new season approached.
Pre-season was brief, with victories over Abercwmboi and Clifton, before the new league campaign got underway with the Premiership split into east and west conferences. After a jittery start, with defeats at home to Bedwas and away to Newport, Ponty got into their stride with an impressive run of seven straight victories, the highlights surely being a comprehensive 42pts to 29 home win over reigning champions Merthyr and the ever gratifying win away at Cardiff by 28pts to 46.
Newcomers such as full back Lloyd Rowlands, outside half Diggy Bird and flanker Morgan Sieniawski were proving their worth whilst the contribution of Blues Academy interns such as flanker Shane Lewis-Hughes and scrum half Dane Blacker were also notable.
The winning run came to a shuddering halt with a 50pts to 21 reverse at Merthyr, but Ponty having done more than enough to justify a second place finish in the East Conference, finishing only a point behind leaders Merthyr.
The New Year began on a downer as Ponty dropped out of the National Cup following a first round defeat by 21pts to 16 away to Cross Keys. League form was of the up and down variety as highlighted in two consecutive defeats away to Ebbw Vale and Merthyr, the former a poor performance, the latter a fighting display that could well have ended in victory.
Lack of consistency was again evident in the ensuing games against Bridgend and Neath where Ponty seemed to do their utmost to throw the games away before snatching narrow victories. A low point came with a televised home game against Llandovery at the end of March with a below-par Pontypridd going down to a 10pts to 30 defeat.
From there on in, the only way was up and Ponty finished the season with a surge, replicating their early season form with a run of eight consecutive victories, at one point offering a serious challenge for the league title but eventually finishing in a creditable third place in the table.
Pontypridd had earned a reputation for playing open attacking rugby with wingers Alex Webber and Dale Stuckey high in the try scoring rankings. Big shifts had been put in by some of the squad veterans such as Ceri Sweeney, Chris Dicomidis and Rhys Shellard, leading the promising youngsters around them by example.
In Justin Burnell’s first season back with Pontypridd, with so many changes made and consistency often hard to find, solid foundations had nevertheless been laid for the future.
