Having travelled to the home of the SSE Swalec Cup winners, Llandovery, in the semi-final, the Steelmen had to return to the ‘House of Pain’ for the second season in a row for the final to take on a Pontypridd side chasing a record fifth successive title.
But the Premiership player of the season, Ronny Kynes, led the charge as he crossed for two of his side’s five tries in a comprehensive 38-12 triumph that gave Ebbw Vale their first Welsh title since they were crowned the Unofficial Welsh Club Champions for the fourth time in 1959/60.
Proud Pontypridd were looking to go one better than Neath’s four Premiership titles in a row by adding the title to the Foster’s Challenge Cup they won by beating Bedwas earlier in the season. They earned the right to host the final after finishing on top of the table at the end of the regular campaign.
But Ebbw Vale arrived with revenge in mind after last season’s defeat at the same venue – and looking to make it a hat-trick of wins over the perennial standard bearers of Premiership rugby. The visitors pack got on top and the home side simply had no answer to their power.
“To come here and win the title against a very good side who have won the last four titles. To win in the manner that we did at Sardis Road is simply fantastic,” admitted Ebbw Vale head coach Nigel Davies.
“The team spirit is second to none within this squad and is as good as anywhere I have been involved in. That is what gets you across the line.
“The players have worked extremely hard for each other, they show tremendous heart and spirit and their work rate and work ethic is phenomenal. That was shown in the first half when we just had to defend – the boys just kept on making their tackles and left Ponty with nowhere to go.”
“There was a lot of experience in the side having been to last season’s final and we used all of that momentum to get us over the line. This win will mean everything to the players, but also to the Ebbw Vale fans, who have been fantastic all season.”
While the two trademark catch and drive tries from line-outs by Kynes and his fellow pack members laid the foundation of the win for the Steelmen, there was a spectacular 80 metre breakaway by full back Dan Haymond for the visiting fans to savour in the second half. That carried the Gwent club out of site at 38-6 and Seb Davies’ last gasp corner try merely saved a bit of face for the champions.
As well as keeping the Ponty raiders at bay in the first-half, Ebbw Vale managed to ease their way into a 14 point lead thanks to Kynes first strike, which Dai Langdon converted, and a second score from right wing David Williams. They even managed to keep their slate clean in the first-half when they lost a player to the sin-bin.
Kynes’ second try, once again improved by Langdon, at the start of the second half made it 22-0 and then Williams skipped away for his second. Langdon’s third conversion made it 30-0 and Davies and the Ebbw Vale fans must have been pinching themselves to see if they were dreaming.
Ponty, who hadn’t been beaten at home since 21 November by Bridgend, finally got on the score board when replacement Bradley Coombs crossed for a try, but Haymond’s dramatic score sucked the last bit of fight out of the home side and there was to be no second half revival.
This win crowned the renaissance of rugby in Ebbw Vale following their relegation from the top-flight back in 2010. Since then they have worked their way back up the ladder by winning the Division 1 East title twice, the Championship twice and finishing as runners-up in the Premiership last season.
Now they are the champions!
Pontypridd: Geraint Walsh’ Alex Webber, Gary Williams, Dafydd Lockyer (captain), Chris Clayton; Ceri Sweeney, Joel Raikes; Chris Phillips, Huw Dowden, Keiron Assiratti, Hemi Barnes, Seb Davies, Jake Thomas, Rhys Shellard, Dan Godfrey
Replacements: Lloyd Williams, Lewis K Williams, Bradley Coombes, Ashleigh James, Wayne O’Connor, Jordan Sieniawski, Mitch Auger, Corey Domachowski
Ebbw Vale: Dan Haymond; David Williams, Nathan Preece, Adam Jones, Jared Rosser; Dai Langdon, Chris Thomas; Ross Jones, Mathew Williams, Gethin Robinson; Damien Hudd (capt), Ashley Sweet; Rhys Clarke, Ronny Kynes, Cameron Regan
Replacements: Joe Franchi, Ian George, Rob Sevenoaks, Josh Jacas, Luke Crocker, Tom Edwards, Iain Smerdon, Harrison Keddie
