Pontypridd RFC

WASTED CHANCES COST IRONMEN IN LOCAL DERBY DEFEAT

PONTYPRIDD 19 MERTHYR 17(Saturday 5^th March Indigo premiership league at Sardis Road)

Merthyr will wonder how they lost this local derby as Pontypridd snatch victory with a very late try. Merthyr opened the scoring early as the first five minutes when Pontypridd gave away a penalty inside their own 25. Merthyr outside half Thompson kick into the corner and from the attacking lineout the Merthyr pack drove the Pontypridd 8 back over their line with number 8 Tom Daley claiming the touch down, Thompson converted to give the Ironmen a 0-7 lead.

Then an inside break saw outside half Thompson sidestep the home defence and race clear only to see his pass go to ground with the line at his mercy. Merthyr then piled on the pressure, but silly errors prevented any further score. Pontypridd then got on the score sheet when outside half Jake Lloyd slotted over a penalty when Merthyr were caught offside. Merthyr continued to dominate the breakdown and when Pontypridd gave away a penalty 35 meters out outside half Thompson slotted over the three points and Merthyr led 3-10.

A clearance kick up filed saw Merthyr gain a lineout deep inside the Pontypridd 25, but the lineout went wrong and Pontypridd cleared the danger. The set scrum went against Merthyr as Referee Ian Davies constantly penalise the Merthyr front row for collapsing. Just before half time Pontypridd kicked a penalty deep inside the Merthyr 25. From the attacking lineout Merthyr gave away a penalty which saw Lloyd kick his second penalty to bring the half time score 6-10.

Lloyd then kicked a third penalty early in the second half to close the gap 9-10. Merthyr then extended the lead when a fine break just over the halfway line from full back Ben Jones found back row man Tom Daley up in support to score his second try, Thompson converted to give the ironmen a 9-17 lead.  Merthyr then kept the pressure on Ponty with Paddy McBride and captain Locke carrying and driving at the Ponty forwards but when Merthyr got into scoring positions, they were guilty of silly errors letting Ponty off the hook. As the game reach the last five minutes Ponty were awarded a penalty for a high tackle just on the halfway line, trailing by 8 points Ponty went for goal to get a losing bonus point which saw wing man Dale Stuckey slot over the three points to close the gap 12-17. Deep into injury time the Merthyr pack drove near the Ponty line, and a try looked certain but when the ball was knocked on Stuckey banged the ball downfield. He gave chase with opposite wing man Cole Swannack, but the young Wales 7s cap beat him to it, hacked on and scored the try that levelled the score 17-17. That left Stuckey with the conversion to win the game for Ponty and to his credit he kept his nerve to slot the kick over and give Ponty a dramatic last gasp win over their local rivals 19-17. Merthyr will wonder how with 5 minutes remaining they left an 8-point lead slip, even the Ponty supporters could not believe their luck. The ironmen must dust themselves down as they face Llanelli at home this weekend in the Premiership indigo league as they push for a playoff place, and hopefully will get back to winning ways.

MERTHYR:15 B Jones, 14 D Thomas,13 A Pinches,12 T Pascoe,11 S Jones,10 G Thompson, 9 J Soanes, 1 C Phillips,2 R Williams,3 K Williams,4 C Locke©, 5 C Bradbury, 6 P McBride, 7 D Stonelake, 8 T Daley, 16 C Greenslade, 17 R Lewis, 18 C Lewis, 19 M Tutaia, 20 J Perkins, 21 J James, 22 A Webber, 23 A Hoskins.

Scorers, T Daley 2t, G Thompson 1p, 2c

Referee Ian Davies (WRU).