It was 26-25 at home against second placed Ebbw Vale in the last game of 2023 and the New Year kicked off with another agonising close shave at Church Bank, home of the reigning champions.
Once again, there was a chance for Josh Phillips to step forward and kick a late penalty that could have won the game, but the full back’s aim was a little awry when it mattered most, albeit from long range. But the real killer for Ponty coach Geraint Lewis was the period of nine successive scrums on the home line just before half time.
International referee Adam Jones yellow carded two home tight head props, Llyr Green and his replacement Berian Watkins, kept penalising the Drovers scrum, yet refused to give a penalty try. In the last play of the half, and with the Drovers down to 13 men and playing uncontested scrums, Ponty worked an overlap on the right, but Phillips dropped the scoring pass.
“The last couple of games have showed that we can compete against the best teams in the league. We’ve had good chances to come away with two victories, but eh reality of the situation is we’ve come away with two defeats,” said Lewis.
“That’s something for us to learn from. With t he amount of opportunities we had we could have had a bigger lead going into the half-time break.
The champions got off to a flying start when they converted the game’s first line-break into a try in the left corner for prop Jamie Hughes. A searing midfield burst by Tomi Lewis opened up the Pontypridd defence and once the ball was recycled in the 22 it was only a question of time before the try came.
Jack Maynard’s long midfield miss pass got the ball wide that bit quicker and Hughes popped up on the inside of the final carrier five metres out to bag the score. Maynard pulled his conversion attempt.
Phillips got the visitors on the board with a 12th minute penalty and from there on Ponty grew in confidence. It didn’t take long for them to take the lead, either.
Having seen his forwards turn over the ball 15 metre inside his own half, scrum half Harvey Nash spotted nobody home in the Llandovery back field. His box to the home 22 gave wing Liam Lloyd to show off his turn of speed and he raced past the last defender, got a lucky bounce and raced to the posts for a try that edged his side ahead.
Brave defence held the home line intact at the start of the second half when Llanodv ery were down to 13, and Ponty had to content themselves with three more points from Phillips boot as their sole reward before the Drovers went back up to full strength.
Two minutes later, the home side hit the front again when they kicked a penalty in the 22 to the right corner. Hooker Taylor Davies threw in and then bagged the try that Maynard improve to make it 12-11.
Drovers head coach Euros Evans then made four changes in personnel as he introduced a wealth of experience from his bench and Ponty’s fortunes dipped again when Canadian international flanker Sion Parry was mysteriously yellow carded after a touch judge intervention only a minute after coming on.
Phillips had a shot from 40 metres to steal the lead once Again, but was short and Llandovery held out to win again as Ponty lost by a point for the second weekend in a row.
Scorers: Llandovery: Tries: J Hughes, T Davies; Con: J Maynard. Pontypridd: Tries: L Lloyd; Pens: J Phillips 2
