Pontypridd 28-28 Aberavon

An exchange of penalties between rival outside halves Dean Gunter and Jamie Davies kept the scoreboard ticking over with the game being mostly a war of attrition and featuring only rare glimpses of the open rugby which the sunbathed crowd at Sardis Road desired.

As Ponty sought to up the tempo full back Aaron Bramwell broke from deep, with wing Chris Clayton up in support to score a fine try on twenty-three minutes, and the conversion to follow from Gunter. Following another successful Gunter penalty, Ponty once more opened out with a phase of support play at pace culminating in a try scored by scrum half Rhys Downes. A late repost from Aberavon failed to produce a score, Pontypridd going into the interval 18pts to 9 to the good.

The second half failed to reignite, with an uneventful third quarter to the game, often scrappy and often interrupted by the referee’s whistle. An overlap try for the visitors scored by flanker Ben Thomas finally broke the deadlock with sixty-two minutes gone. Dean Gunter responded with a well struck penalty for Ponty, but the Wizards finding a new lease of life, sending wing Chris Morgans over for a try which Davies converted.

The action continued unabated and end to end as full back Bramwell broke up the line to score for Ponty, a touchline conversion added by Gunter. There were more twist and turns yet to come in a frenzied finale to the game, with home flanker Rhys Lloyd yellow carded, and a concerted period of Aberavon pressure culminating in a close range try scored by flanker Rory Gallacher and converted by Jamie Davies.

As Ponty threw everything into attack to salvage the result, their efforts, as had been the case so often through the afternoon, were thwarted by the referee’s decisions going against them. A game of highs and lows, ebbs and flows, came to an end as a 28pts all draw.

Pontypridd:

15.Aaron Bramwell. 14.Owen Williams (Matthew Nuthall). 13.Gavin Dacey. 12.Adam Thomas. 11.Chris Clayton. 10.Dean Gunter. 9.Rhys Downes.

1.Ken Knaggs (Jon Williams). 2.Tom Hetherington. 3.Ryan Harford (Ken Knaggs). 4.Grant Harrington. 5.Chris Martenko. 6.Rhys Lloyd. 7.Wayne O’Connor (Ryan Savage). 8.Chris Dicomidis (Kristian Dacey).

“Golden Bob” man of the match: Aaron Bramwell

Scorers: