Pontypridd kicked off their Admiral Premiership campaign with a 34-19 win against Bargoed at Sardis Road.
Despite conceding two tries in the first 20 minutes, a penalty try got Ponty going before scores from Oli Shepherd, Joe Davies and Cally James, along with Jacob Symes kicking 12 points helping to earn the win.
Ponty created the first chance of the afternoon when centres Garyn Smith and Stuart Floyd-Ellis combined with the latter breaking through the defence, captain Cally James was in support but his attempted kick was blocked by the chasing Bargoed defender.
The hosts had a scrum inside the opposition 22 in the 10th minute but following several phases inside the 22, the visitors won a turnover and cleared into touch.
After the early chances, Bargoed opened the scoring in the 12th minute when a loose Ponty miss pass in midfield was kicked ahead by winger Ashley Norton who gathered and offloaded to outside centre Logan Yendle to score.
The visitors almost grabbed a second try a few minutes later when fullback Dylan Williams broke through a tackle and passed to his captain James Leadbeater, it looked almost certain to be a try but the final pass didn’t go to hand and it was a let off for the home side.
Winger Norton crossed for his team’s second try after 20 minutes when a grubber kick from Josh Congreve took a deflection and the ball bounced kindly for the second try. Prosser added the extras to give his side a 14-0 lead after a quarter of the match.
Ponty responded when wing Joe Davies bounced off a couple of defenders down the left touchline but was stopped short of the try line, Bargoed loosehead Keiron Brown took out scrum half Joel Raikes illegally, giving referee Gareth Newman no option but to send him to the sinbin.
After a couple more penalty infringements, referee Newman gave the hosts a penalty-try when tighthead Keagan Bale brought down a maul illegally. Ponty were on the scoreboard albeit 14-7 down after half an hour.
In the final couple of minutes before half time, Ponty capitalised on the two-man advantage when fullback Oli Shepherd dummied his way through the defence for the host’s second try. Jacob Symes’ conversion was good, leaving the scores level at the interval at 14-all.
HALF TIME – Pontypridd 14-14 Bargoed
Pontypridd started the second half a lot better than the first half and winger Joe Davies crossed in less than sixty seconds after beating two defenders to score in the corner. A well struck Jacob Symes conversion gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the match.
Captain Cally James picked up the bonus point after Joe Davies, who was continuing to impress, took a fantastic take from a high ball to create the attack before feeding James for the try. Symes added the extras to cap an excellent start to the second half for the Valley Commandos, the score now standing at 28-14 after 46 minutes.
Joel Raikes took a quick tapped penalty after Bargoed were pinged for crossing and made his was into the 22 before being tackled. A little later Symes added a penalty to extend Ponty’s lead to 17 points as the game headed into the final quarter.
Fly-half Symes kicked a second penalty with 10 minutes remaining to keep the scoreboard ticking over for the hosts, meaning Ponty had scored 34 unanswered points since the visitors’ second try.
There was a final score for Bargoed when openside flanker Rhys Stephens crossed the line from a rolling maul, but Prosser’s conversion drifted wide.
With Bargoed chasing a four-try bonus point, a knock on inside Ponty’s half was the final play of the match and the hosts kicked off the season with a bonus point win.
Pontypridd travel to Llangennech next weekend on Saturday 21st of September before returning to Sardis Road to face Newbridge on September 28th.
FULL TIME – Pontypridd 34-19 Bargoed (14/9/2024)
Match report – Iestyn Thomas
PONTYPRIDD –
15. Oli Shepherd (Brandon Huntley). 14. Joe Davies. 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 12. Garyn Smith. 11. Dale Stuckey. 10. Jacob Symes (Jaydan Pugh). 9. Joel Raikes (Lucus Welch).
1. Ben Stephens (Ben Drew). 2. Rob Jones (Dylan Kelly). 3. Morgan Bosanko (Kian Mattravers). 4. Joe Miles (Cole Parry). 5. Kristian Parker. 6. Cai James. 7. Cally James (c) (Dylan John). 8. Lloyd Riley.
Subs: 16. Dylan Kelly. 17. Ben Drew. 18. Kian Mattravers. 19. Cole Parry. 20. Dylan John. 21. Lucus Welch. 22. Jaydan Pugh. 23. Brandon Huntley.
Tries: Penalty-try, Oli Shepherd, Joe Davies, Cally James
Conversions: Jacob Symes x 3
Penalties: Jacob Symes x 2
BARGOED –
15. Dylan Williams. 14. Ashley Norton. 13. Logan Yendle. 12. Calum Jones. 11. Josh Congreve. 10. Josh Prosser. 9. James Leadbeater (c).
1. Kieron Brown. 2. Morgan Edwards. 3. Keagan Bale. 4. Geraint Edmunds. 5. Morgan Thomas. 6. Lewis Johnson. 7. Rhys Stephens. 8. James Locke.
Subs: 16. Louis Tovey. 17. Josh Parry. 18. Louis Jones. 19. Jason James. 20. Callum Merrick. 21. Tom Bainton. 22. Matt Lewis. 23. Dai Evans.
Tries: Logan Yendle, Ashley Norton, Rhys Stephens
Conversions: Josh Prosser x 2
Yellow Cards: Kieron Brown, Keagan Bale
Referee: Gareth Newman
Assistant Referee/Third Official: Tony Davies
Golden Bob Man of the Match: Jacob Symes
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