Captain's Blog #6

I ended my previous blog by stating that, after a good run of wins, we needed to “keep the ball rolling”.

We then travelled to Pontypool, which was a televised match. Unfortunately we lost the toss and played the first half with a strong wind behind us. It was not a great spectacle, and we felt we had not made enough of the conditions by half time. Following a rousing team talk we came back out to play the best twenty minutes of the season so far, scoring two quick tries and playing most of the game up in the Pooler twenty-two. Most importantly we secured another away win.

We felt confident after the Pontypool game that we could push on to Christmas unbeaten and set down a marker for what we could achieve in the New Year. Rodney Parade was the next port of call, which is a daunting venue, but following the close encounter last season, and on our current form, we felt that we were more than capable of turning Newport over – it was not to be!

A lack of intensity and desire in our play and a lack of quality possession cost us dearly. Newport made us look very ordinary, and our cause was not helped by a referee who interpreted our line out play as being unlawful.

The changing room after the game was a very sombre place – I haven’t experienced that kind of atmosphere in my time with Pontypridd and hope never to experience it again. We knew we had to put the disappointment behind us. That defeat could make or break our season – if our heads stayed down we could drift into a losing run, or if we looked at it as a kick up the proverbial derriere we could move on.

Bedwas were our next opponents, who are always a tricky team, and we knew that there was no place for complacency. Nerves were evident in the changing room prior to the game, but that was short lived following Johnsey and Chief’s pep talk. It was a frustrating game to play in, and I’m sure also to watch. Bedwas slowed us down by living off-side and we in turn dropped our standards to their level. In the post match huddle it almost felt as if we had lost, and that we hadn’t redeemed ourselves. The Chief put it all into context by stating, that for thousands of sports people around the world, “a win is a win”.

Its been a difficult start to the season, and it will continue to be difficult in the run into Christmas, with away games at Cross Keys and Llandovery. We hope that we can continue to rely on our great support, and we will certainly endeavour to put in the performances that we are capable of, and give that support something to cheer about.

Nathan Strong – 17/11/2008