CENTRAL A

PONTYCYMER ........... 14 PYLE ............................ 38

A LARGE crowd gathered at Lawrence Park for this rearranged mid-week clash.

It was the visitors who broke the deadlock with converted tries from driving mauls, on the 8th and 14th minutes. This was just the wake-up call the Garw Valley outfit needed, and it was not long before they got on the scoresheet themselves thanks to a try from home No 8 Jonny Evans, Ponty pivot Ross Pearce converted, making it game on.

Pontycymer handed a debut to Tondu youth powerhouse prop Sean Kendall, who was in outstanding form all evening, also Kendall’s fellow prop Rhys Haines put in another eye catching shift up front, while behind the scrum Bridgend Blue Bulls star Gareth Howells was in tip-top form.

The home side made it honours even in the 32nd minute when Ethan Stead put on the after burners to score in the corner, again Ross Pearce fired over the touch line conversion, and it remained 14-14 at the interval.

Both sides had their numbers reduced throughout the game due to yellow cards. Ponty had No 8 Jonny Evans and pivot Ross Pearce in the sinbin, while visiting prop Lee Bendle was given 10 minutes to cool off.

The Green & Ambers lost talisman lock Rhys Hosey early in the second, after a clash of heads with one of his team mates. It was still all to play for in the 64th minute with Pyle 19-14 up.

The Brynglas side finished the stronger with some late tries to take the spoils.