DIVISION THREE EAST CENTRAL A
PONTYCLUN ............... 73 LLANDAFF NORTH ...... 6
PONTYCLUN made it eight wins on the spin, inflicting an 11-try hammering on Llandaff North and in the process, condemning their opponents to relegation from Division Three East Central A.
The game was made playable only following a tremendous effort by a few hardy individuals, who shipped a few hundred gallons of water off a sodden Windsor field prematch.
The Badgers were virtually at full strength and took the lead inside five minutes when Nicky Theaker touched down after Jo Williams broke the defensive line and offloaded to the Pontyclun No 9. Theaker comfortably converted his own effort. However the visitors struck back immediately, with firstly an audacious drop goal from 30 metres out and a well struck penalty from a similar distance shortly after. That was it though as far as Llandaff North were concerned as Pontyclun went on the rampage and ran in a further five tries before the break.
Jack Theaker grabbed the first, Jordan Christopher crossed for two, the second a marvellous individual effort and Nicky Theaker notched his second. Wing Adam Lewis was the other beneficiary as Pontyclun put on a superb display for the watching supporters. Theaker belted over four conversions in the process, to take Pontyclun into the break sporting a commanding 40-6 lead. Following the break, Llandaff North showed some resilience and indeed enjoyed a decent 10 minutes or so but normal service was soon resumed and Nicky Theaker crossed for his hat-trick, adding the extras via his boot. Pontyclun brought on Teifion Jones and Josh Cowles in place of Morgan Bosanko and Sam Barclay and shortly thereafter Jack Theaker was forced off with a leg injury – to be replaced by Ryan Williams. There was a slight lull in the action as the new recruits settled in but the scoreboard was soon ticking over again as firstly captain Luke Rose scored under the posts, followed by Nicky Theaker’s fourth of the day. Theaker slotted over both conversions and the Badgers led by 61-6.
Outside half Rhys Morgan was next to score, a fine individual effort which emanated from the Pontyclun 22-metre line and Tom Green crossed for the 11th try, late on. Although Theaker fired the final conversion attempt wide, he notched up a personal tally of 38 points via his four tries and nine conversions – a league record for the club.
There were a few contenders for MoM including Jordan Christopher, Jack Theaker and Lloyd Rose among them but Nicky Theaker was the outstanding player on the day and his points tally alone, merited the award.
The fantastic winning streak enjoyed by Pontyclun appears to have come just too late to attain promotion and they will rue the run of poor results either side of Christmas, when they lost six on the trot, all by very narrow margins. When the team clicks, as it did against Llandaff North, they are more than a match for anyone in the division and indeed have inflicted two defeats on Taffs Well, who look likely to be promoted alongside Abercwmboi. The group must now look to finish the season on a high by winning their remaining three matches against Cefn Coed (a) on Saturday, May 5, Penygraig (h) on May 12 and Pentyrch (a) TBA.
Looking at the promotion/relegation situation in the other divisions, the club will enjoy a local “derby” next season against Cowbridge RFC and once again meet Tylorstown RFC, having played them a few years ago. These clubs have achieved promotion from Three South East B.
In addition Penarth RFC, relegated from Division Two, will be back on the fixture list, together with either CRC Caerdydd or Abercynon RFC (who condemned us to relegation on the last Saturday of the 2016-17 season) – this being decided following their final matches next Saturday.