PREM ROUND-UP
PONTYPRIDD’S plight continued as they lost their third game in a row as they suffered another heavy defeat to remain stuck in the bottom three after a 33-16 loss at Newport.
Despite taking the lead with an early penalty from Matt Bancroft, they only kept their noses in front for a short period. Once Newport got motoring they took control and took their chances. Dan Hill barged his way over for the opening try and Matt O’Brien added the extras.
O’Brien ended up with 13 points on the night and moved into third place on the club’s alltime points list as he overtook Shane Howarth to reach 1,036. Only Dan Griffiths (1151) and Paul Turner (1145) are now ahead of him.
Ponty were guilty of not making the most of their chances, although a try from scrum half Joel Raikes, which Bancroft improved, enabled them to level at 10-10 after O’Brien had added a penalty.
It was 17-13 to the home side at the break after Wakes U20 wing Oli Andrew ran in the first of his two tries. O’Brien added the extras and then Bancroft rounded off the first half scoring with a penalty. Bancroft’s third penalty of the game cut the gap to a single point, but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Andrew skipped away for his second try and then Ben Roach brought up the bonus point with a fourth for the Black & Ambers.
Two more O’Brien penalties sealed the deal and after losing their first four matches, Newport have risen to sixth in the table.
Forget the 28-13 scoreline, bottom side Bridgend came close to inflicting a surprise win over high flying Llandovery at Church Bank. In the end, the Drovers recorded a seventh league win but they looked decidedly out of sorts. The Ravens took the game to them with impressive vim and vigour, disrupted possession and forced errors with their hard tackling to take a 13-3 interval lead. Fly half Luke Price kicked two penalties and added a conversion to a try by scrum half Chris Williams.
The Drovers could not find any rhythm and even series of close range drives failed to bring any points. All they could muster was a penalty from fly half Jack Maynard. A fine run by full back Ed Howley all but made a try for the Ravens before a second Maynard penalty made it 13-6 after 50 minutes. A yellow card for fly half Price checked Bridgend momentum and the home forwards drove a line out to work in replacement hooker Craig Thomas, centre Kristian Jones converting. The Drovers left it until the 75th minute to go ahead when line out pressure ended with wing Aaron Warren crossing wide out.
When the Ravens lost replacement Nathan Edwards to the sin bin, a Jones penalty and a try by bounding lock Joe Powell made the game safe for off colour Llandovery.