Swansea 37-15 Pontypridd

Ponty's season of woe out west continued with their heaviest defeat so far this season, against a Swansea team out to make amends from two recent defeats.

Playing against a stiff breeze in the first half, Swansea applied the early pressure, and outside half James Dixon missed a relatively easy penalty after two minutes.

However he made amends for this when a minute later he put Swansea in front with his first successful penalty. A lead they were not to lose.

Ponty's cause was made more difficult when after eight minutes prop Stuart Williams was shown a red card by referee James Jones for either an alleged punch or headbutt. However, Ponty could feel aggrieved as members of the Swansea pack retaliated and maybe should have been given the same punishment.

This was Ponty's third red card of the season and second in succesive games following Grant Harrington's two yellows at Birmingham last week.

From the resulting penalty, Dixon doubled Swansea's lead. Dixon's purple patch continued when he scored Swansea's first try after 11 minutes, breaking through the Ponty defence.

Dixon converted his own try to put Swansea 13 points up.

Ponty got their first points after 16 minutes through a Kris Baller penalty from in front of the posts. At this time Swansea were also down to 14 players following a yellow card awarded to No 8 Steffan Jones for a high tackle on Ryan Harford.

Swansea increased their lead and scored their second try through lock Sam Kiley,which was converted by Dixon. In an ill tempered first half, Ponty struggled with their line out, and it was from a lost line out that Swansea scored their third try in the corner after 35 minutes to put them 25-3 up through full back Ricky Williams.

Dixon missed the conversion. It was at this time the game went to passive scrums.

Jon Williams who had come on for Geraint Lewis (after an 18 minute cameo appearance), left the field with what looked like a jarred neck. Jon was replaced by Kris Dacey, making his first appearance for the club since the 22nd September 2009.

Ponty opened the scoring in the second half through Chris Clayton's 9th try of the season close to the posts. Kris Baller put over the resulting conversion to make the score 25-10. However Swansea replied with their fourth try through replacement David Blyth, securing their bonus point.

Swansea had their second player yellow carded, flanker Luke Jones after 68 minutes. While he was off the field, Ponty scored their second try, and a first of the season for prop Ryan Harford. Kris Baller missed the conversion.

Swansea however had the final say with a try through lock Richard Kelly after 73 minutes, converted by Dixon for a personal match tally of 17 points.

There were some positives that can be taken from the game, Kris Dacey impressed in his first game for over 6 months and it also saw the return of lock Chris Martenko who had missed the last 5 games through a back injury.

Team:

Matthew Nuthall (rep Owen Williams 63 mins), Chris Clayton, Gavin Dacey (capt), Adam Thomas (rep Lee Thorne 53 mins), Lewis Williams, Matthew Hutchings (rep Gavin Morris 49 mins), Kristian Baller Stuart Williams, Tom Hetherington (rep Phillip Hammond 74 mins), Ryan Harford, Grant Harrington, Ryan Savage (rep Chris Martenko 56 mins), Chris Dicomidis, Geraint Lewis (rep Jon Williams 18 mins, rep Kristian Dacey 36 mins)

Scorers:

• Tries: Clayton, Harford
• Conversion: Baller
• Penalty: Baller