PONTY ALWAYS A TEST – FISH
MAN of the match Dan Fish hailed Cardiff’s win over regional rivals Pontypridd – but the margin of victory wasn’t as big as expected given the strength of the Blue and Blacks side.
Home head coach Steve Law fielded a team packed with full-time regional talent and backs Fish, Aled Summerhill (2) and Harri Millard all scored in a bonus-point Cardiff win.
But Pontypridd’s youngsters deserve great credit for staying in the battle and never giving in because before kick-off it looked like it could be a one-sided contest.
Fish said: “Cardiff against Pontypridd is always a big game and no matter what team we put out, we always know they’ll match us.
“We’re happy with a bonus-point win.
“People might have looked at the teams and expected a walkover, but that was never going to be the case.
“Pontypridd never care who is in the opposition and they played well.
“We put ourselves under a bit too much pressure at times by overplaying, but when we pinged Pontypridd back and played in the right areas, we were a lot better.”
Cardiff led 17-3 at the break. Wing Summerhill had an early run, but promising Pontypridd fly-half Ben Burnell kicked the visitors into the lead with a penalty.
Jacob Beetham’s kick levelled the scores before Pontypridd’s Dale Stuckey saw yellow and the visitors lost a line-out which allowed Fish to cross. Beetham added the extras.
Fish then turned from scorer to creator as he put through a nice kick which Summerhill collected to touch down. Beetham again converted.
Stuckey made up for his first-half sin-binning with a try at the start of the second period which gave Pontypridd hope.
Burnell set up the effort, although he couldn’t add the extra points.
But Summerhill made it a brace for the evening as the tries kept coming.
Pontypridd then grabbed a penalty try after Cardiff’s Theo Bevacqua sacked a driving line-out and saw yellow.
It didn’t stop Millard from scoring Cardiff’s crucial fourth try in the 63rd minute and Beetham’s kick made the game safe for Law’s men despite them losing Rory Harries to a late yellow.
Pontypridd fly-half Burnell said: “We started well but we made too many errors and let Cardiff build into the game.
“Dan played very well and so did all their backline.
“I think we’re just trying a bit too hard on occasions.
“We failed to exit well, and Cardiff have very good players who picked us off.”
Cardiff – Tries: D Fish, A Summerhill (2), H Millard. Cons: J Beetham (3). Pen: J Beetham.
Pontypridd – Tries: D Stuckey, pen try. Pen: B Burnell.