Ponty’s perfect present
THE deadlock of an evenly contested opening 10 minutes was broken by Pontypridd courtesy of a close-range Ceri Sweeney penalty.
The home side responded with a try as outside half Diggy Bird ghosted through the Ponty midfield defence to touch down under the posts, then converting his own try. That lead however lasted a matter of seconds as a mix-up in the Cardiff ranks gifted Dane Blacker an easy run in from 30 metres with Sweeney converting in front of the posts.
Chances were at a premium but on the halfhour mark the visitors blew two excellent scoring opportunities. First a Dafydd Lockyer pass was knocked into touch by a Cardiff hand with Dale Stuckey having the tryline in sight and it was Stuckey again minutes later who was tackled on the line when it looked as if he had scored.
With half-time approaching a long-range penalty by Blue and Blacks outside half Diggy Bird levelled the scores but it was the Valley Commandos who went in at the interval in front. An excellent break by captain Lockyer was supported by winger Lewis I Williams who raced around under the posts, Sweeney converting to register a 10-17 half-time scoreline.
A straight-forward penalty by Diggy Bird at the start of the second half saw the home side cut their deficit and with the penalty count rising steadily against a beleaguered Ponty defence, another two successful kicks in succession by Bird edged Cardiff into the lead coming up to the hour mark.
The second-half penalty fest continued as only minutes later Ceri Sweeney responded with a kick between the posts to give the Valley Commados back the lead.
With 10 minutes of a keenly fought encounter to go, Ponty centre Garyn Smith looked to have crossed for a certain try but a Cardiff hand dislodging the ball from his grasp. From the ensuing scrum Cardiff infringed and Ceri Sweeney slotted an easy penalty to extend Ponty’s lead to four points and set up a tense finale to the match.
As hard as the home side tried there was no way through a heroic Ponty defence and even with replacement prop Mitch Auger sent to the bin the visitors held out into injury-time for a 19-23 victory, giving the large and noisy contingent of travelling fans an early Christmas present after a cracker of a game.