With the Principality Premiership looking likely to once
again find its way back to Ponty, and a big possibility of a league and Swalec
Cup double on the cards after they just scraped past Ebbw Vale in to the
semi-finals last weekend, the Valley Commandos took the chance to enjoy a game
with little pressure other than keeping their unbeaten streak at home going.
Jersey could have moved off the bottom of Pool 7 and above
Leeds with a win but, after an impressive start, Ponty cranked up the
performance to cruise home.
Young full back Aled Summerhill marked his first game at
senior level with two tries for the hosts, while Simon Williams also made his
Ponty bow in the second row.
The game did start badly for the hosts, with Ponty spilling
the kick-off and Jersey forcing a penalty. Kicking for the corner, this set the
tone for the match and, after another infringement, scrum half Joel Dudley took
a quick penalty to jink through after just three minutes on his first
competitive appearance of a season plagued by injury. Ross Broadfoot skewed the
conversion wide.
But Ponty came straight back at their visitors and they
worked the ball well across the line in an early indication of the running
rugby to come. Summerhill, just 18, fed Matthew Nuthall, who had the easiest of
three steps to take before scoring on 12. Dai Flanagan added the extras.
Five minutes later Jersey were back in front. Glenn Bryce,
on the touch-line, slipped the ball back inside to giant No8 Talite Vaioleti to
dive over, with Broadfoot again slicing wide.
One of the Jersey coaching staff, in an attempt to gee up
his players, made the vocal comment that Ponty “couldn’t handle the pace”, much
to the crowd’s consternation, but Ponty were to prove him wrong.
Flanagan kicked a penalty after 22 minutes to level at 10-10,
and then the game really opened up.
Just after the half-hour Ponty scored again when Owen
Jenkins, son of Swansea and Wales great Garin Jenkins, did all the hard work with
his dancing feet as he burst down the line. The ball was worked back in-field
and after a succession of forward drives, Jack Dando forced his way over for
his first Ponty try, which Flanagan again converted.
Ponty captain Dafydd Lockyer and birthday boy Tom Pascoe
where in imperious form in the middle as Jersey tacklers seemed to bounce off
them a la Jonah Lomu in the 1999 World Cup here in Wales.
Both were involved in the third try just before the break.
Another flowing move resulted in Summerhill, in his first match at senior level,
diving over out wide in front of his “proud” onlooking father, who admitted to
being a “bag of nerves” in the day building up to the encounter.
Ponty continued to pound Jersey after the restart and Owen
Sheppeard broke a couple of tackles to cross four minutes in, converted by
Flanagan.
Tom Hetherington was binned for allegedly throwing a punch,
but Jersey failed to make much of a difference with their numerical advantage
as Ponty’s 14-man defence stood firm.
The hosts continued to come forward and they scored again on
57. Cory Hill broke through a couple of challenges before feeding Summerhill
again out wide to score his second try on a memorable debut as he left a
covering tackler in his wake and drew the biggest cheer of the evening. Flanagan
added a simple conversion.
Substitute Gareth Wyatt then chased a cross-field Flanagan
kick and gathered a difficult bounce expertly to cross on the hour for another
score, with Flanagan adding his fifth conversion to the scoreboard for a
personal tally of 13 points.
The game then petered out a little as the substitutes
flowed, but it sprung to life again in the final 10.
Another pin-point cross-field kick by Flanagan caused
confusion in the Jersey defence on 78, and, as defensive hands grasped at thin
air, prop Bradley Thyer gathered for Ponty’s 99th try of the season, before
James Copsey scored a late consolation for Jersey to have the last word, which
Broadfoot converted.
Star man: Owen Jenkins
Star man: Owen Jenkins
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