Winning in the rain – Ponty claim victory over valley rivals Merthyr
Pontypridd avenged their cup defeat to Merthyr with a 31-7 hammering of the champions at Sardis Road, moving second in the Indigo Group Premiership table behind leaders Cardiff.
In blizzard like conditions, the Valley Commandos found the line three times with 18-year old backs Mason Grady and Morgan Richards scoring first-half tries, before the more experienced Nathan Huish bundled over the line in the second.
Champions Merthyr failed to get into their rhythm, and by the time Jack Perkins crashed over the line, the game had already gone.
The early actions saw Diggy Bird slot two kickable penalty goals, with the wind behind his back, to get Pontypridd on the scoreboard.
It wasn’t just the conditions that were against Merthyr in the first half though as the Pontypridd defence stood up to every challenge the Ironmen threw at them, with Alun Lawrence and Jamie Hill turning crucial ball over for the home side deep in their 22.
The team in red soon turned defence into attack in a sensational way as Rhys Shellard stole a Merthyr lineout before the ball was shipped out wide to Webber, whose chip kick was claimed by Grady to score a debut try for Pontypridd.
From one youngster to another and after a superb run from Morgan Sieniewski, the ball was recycled out to fullback Morgan Richards who skipped past Matthew Jarvis to score under the posts, the conversion increasing the Pontypridd lead to 20 points.
Bird added one more penalty before the break as Merthyr went in without a score on the board.
After some stern words from Dale Mcintosh at half-time, Merthyr came out of the blocks looking like champions. But, getting close to the try-line seemed to be their kryptonite as Rhys Downes got held up and Craig Locke knocked on over the line.
The game was put to bed with half-hour remaining, after Merthyr prop Jack Gilding had been sin-binned, Ponty hooker Nathan Huish claiming the score from an unstoppable maul over the line to sucker punch the opposition.
The Ironmen finally managed to score, after Diggy Birds fourth penalty goal, as the impressive Harley Thomson offloaded to Jack Perkins to score under the posts with Matthew Jarvis converting.
That was as good as it got for the travelling side as Pontypridd made it three wins in a row over Merthyr at Sardis Road.
By Nathan Parker – Pontypridd Media Team
Pontypridd:
15.Morgan Richards (Ben Jones). 14.Alex Webber. 13.Mason Grady (Corey Sheppard). 12.Dafydd Lockyer – cpt. 11.Dale Stuckey. 10.Diggy Bird. 9.Jamie Hill (Joel Raikes).
1.Huw Owen (Curtis Reynolds). 2.Nathan Huish (Rhydian Jenkins). 3.Morgan Bosanko (Ross Davies). 4.Kristian Parker. 5.Sean Moore. 6.Morgan Sieniawski. 7.Rhys Shellard (Sion Parry). 8.Alun Lawrence (Lloyd Evans).
Tries: Grady (23); Richards (28); Huish (54)
Cons: Bird (25, 28)
Pens: Bird (8, 20, 39, 57)
Merthyr:
15.Matthew Jarvis. 14.Sam Jones. 13.Harley Thompson. 12.Adam Thomas (Arron Pinches). 11.Ashley Norton (Chris Czekaj). 10.Rhys Jones. 9.Rhys Downes (James Soanes).
1.Chris Phillips (Ryan Thomas). 2.Rhys Williams (Sam Evans). 3.Jack Gilding (Rhys Lewis). 4.Craig Locke – cpt. 5.Damian Welch (James Downs). 6.Jake Thomas (Hemi Barnes / Sam Evans temp /Jake Thomas). 7.Jack Perkins. 8.Phil Rees.
Try: Perkins (62)
Con: Jarvis (63)
Golden Bob Man of the Match: Huw Owen
WRU Man of the Match: Kristian Parker
Referee: Dan Jones
