Vale of tears as Ponty fight hard to end term on high

PONTYPRIDD ended their season with a hard-fought 14-3 victory over Ebbw Vale at Sardis Road.

Justin Burnell’s side have not reached the heights of previous seasons despite finishing in the top four. The visitors were the better side in the first-half, as they threw everything they had at their hosts, but they made far too many unforced errors to sustain pressure.

Ebbw Vale started the stronger of the two sides with outside-half Evan Lloyd slotting over an early three points from the kicking tee.

The visitors held the upper hand throughout the first-half with their set-piece, and general forward meaning the lion’s share of the game was played in the Pontypridd half. But as has often been the case this season the Steelmen lacked a cutting edge behind the scrum.

They came close to extending their lead at the stroke of half-time when Lloyd got held up over the try line meaning Pontypridd turned around with a slender 3-0 lead. Ebbw Vale’s Aaron Coundley got yellow carded in the early stages of the second-half for a high tackle.

Pontypridd took full advantage with their scrum pushing Ebbw Vale backwards at a rate of knots which eventually resulted in a penalty try for the hosts. But it got worse for Jason Strange’s side with prop Jon Evans shown a yellow card for conceding successive penalties at the scrum meaning the Steelmen were temporarily down to 13 men.

Pontypridd’s continued to hammer home their scrum dominance and were awarded another penalty try to secure a well-deserved victory.