Ponty Youth slip to defeat at Pontyclun

The chance of a happy New Year was missed by Pontypridd Youth as they were beaten 12-0 in a friendly fixture at Pontyclun on Saturday 7^th January - in the first game of 2012.

Although this was the first opportunity to stretch their legs for a month the visitors seemingly lacked enthusiasm and were generally well off the pace against their more experienced hosts.  Pontyclun’s victory was as much about the proliferation of Pontypridd mistakes as it was the creativity of the hosts and this was evident when the home team opened the scoring on six minutes after their winger innocuously broke infield from around 20m out and ran through a number of weak tackles to score close to the posts making the conversion a formality.  The heavy conditions hampered both teams but the visitors were not helped by the frequent disapproval of the referee and their tendency to cheaply lose possession. 

A quarter of the game had passed before Pontypridd played with any particular purpose.  Max Day stole a loose ball in the Pontyclun half, linked with the ever reliable support of Ieuan Evans and when wing Jordan Rees stubbornly refused to be put to ground he gave the forwards the target to drive as far as the home 10m line.  However, a succession of penalties handed back the territory and the impetus o the home team and from a lineout near the Pontypridd line a looping cross-kick was just about gathered by Pontyclun’s opposite wing for the second try.  The deficit was almost cut in the final minutes of the half after a rare period of sustained Pontypridd pressure first saw Gavin Steele burst onto a deft Harcombe pass to get to within a couple of metres of the Pontyclun line before prop Callum Reed was somehow held up after a series of quick pick and goes by the Pontypridd pack but the half was aptly ended with another penalty against the visitors.           

The positive field position enjoyed by Pontypridd at the end of the first half was mirrored at the start of the second.  Tom Flye typically secured clean ball at a corner lineout and was driven to within a breath of the try-line and when the subsequent Pontypridd penalty was put into the same corner it was Mike O’Connor who next missed out on a score by inches but this was as good as it got for the visiting supporters.  There was plenty of committed tackling shown by Pontypridd and this was needed against a confident Pontyclun backline but a distinct lack of cohesion and spark in attack and some loose kicking meant the home team were constantly under self-imposed pressure and left playing in the wrong parts of the field for the bulk of the final quarter.  The final whistle brought the beleaguered Pontypridd defence well deserved relief and the opportunity for the squad to regroup ahead of another tough encounter next Saturday at home to Bridgend Athletic.

Pontypridd Youth :

15. Josh Waughington  14. Josh Edwards  13. James Nicholas  12. Adam Harcombe  11. Jordan Rees  10. Shane Hutchinson  9. Chris Jones  1. Paul Minty  2. Blake Fear  3. Callum Reed  4. Mike O’Connor  5. Tom Flye (Capt.)  6. Gavin Steele  7. Ieuan Evans  8. Max Day

16. Nathan Wyle  17. Jack Whelpton  18. Mike Jones  19. Tom Robinson  20. Nathan Evans  21. Daniel Pritchard