Pontypridd lift the Swalec Cup at the Millennium Stadium.
A nervous, edgy opening 40 minutes saw Neath lead 13-9 at
the break, but whatever Dale McIntosh said to his troops at half-time worked as
they came out to score three tries and wrestle the Cup back in to their hands
after defeat in last season’s final to Cross Keys.
It is their fifth Swalec Cup success, and means they can now
look forward with anticipation and confidence towards the Premiership play-off
finale where they will either battle Llanelli or Llandovery for the
Principality Premiership crown.
The result brings an end a miserable season for Neath, who
will be reflecting on what might have been as where Dai Langdon had matched
Ponty’s Dai Flanagan in the kicking stakes during the first half, he lost his
composure during the second as the boys in black pulled away.
Flanagan in fact missed an early penalty attempt as his side
started the better of the two, but slowly Neath came in to the fixture.
On 16 minutes, Langdon landed a long range kick, but three
minutes later Ponty skipper Chris Dicomidis was halted by a swinging arm and Flanagan
squared things up.
Dicomidis was stopped just short as he sought the game’s
opening score, while Clayton was just wrestled the wrong side of the flag as he
tried to touch down thanks to excellent defending by Aaron Bramwell and Gareth
King.
That ignited a mad 10 minutes as first, Flanagan kicked his
second penalty after Steffan Jones had charged down Luc Jones’ attempted
clearance kick, and then Langdon almost immediately levelled at 6-6 with a
sumptuous drop goal from at least 40 metres on the half hour.
Five minutes later, Neath’s Euros Evans was binned for a
high tackle on Jake Thomas, and Flanagan accepted the chance to restore their
three-point lead at 6-9.
But there was little else for Ponty to cheer in the half as
14-man Neath worked the ball along their line to Wales call-up Dafydd Howells
on the left. He cut inside to leave Clayton and Geraint Walsh floundering and go
over in the corner. Langdon converted to close the half with Neath ahead.
Langdon immediately missed a penalty attempt following the
restart, and that looked crucial as Ponty grabbed a try after 51.
With Neath standing up well to the pack’s concerted efforts
to force their way through, the ball was spread wide right to Clayton who this
time scored to repeat his feat in the 2006 final just moments after having another effort again disallowed for being the pushed the wrong side of the flag.
Langdon then missed another kick which cannoned back off the
post, and Clayton punished that on 63 minutes with his second try, finishing
off after the impressive Dicomidis had released him. Flanagan added the extras.
Flanagan added another penalty four minutes later before
Langdon missed his third of the half as Neath just couldn’t get back in to it.
Both sides were reduced to 14 for the final 10 minutes with
Neath prop Marc Jones and Ponty’s Stuart Williams binned, and substitute Simon
Humberstone landed another penalty for Ponty after 77.
Another sub, Darran Harris, then burst through in injury
time for his fourth try for the club, with Humberstone converting to wrap up the
34-13 comeback victory.
Ponty’s inspirational captain Dicomidis, recently voted the Welsh
Rugby Writers’ Association’s Principality Premiership Player of the Year,
praised his team’s second half efforts, saying: “We came in at half-time and we
rightly had a roasting off [coach Dale McIntosh]. We made too many [first half]
mistakes [and] missed tackles, which led to their try.
“I think deep within we knew that if we went through the
phases and kept the ball then we would score tries, and thankfully the second half
we managed to score three.
“I think we played a lot braver rugby compared to the first
half. I think we were in our shells and fair play to Neath, especially Lee
Evans and [captain Gareth Gravell], they spoiled a lot of our ball and turned
us over quite a bit.
“Second half I don’t think we allowed them to dictate at the
ruck and it allowed us to free up the ball and get our backs moving.”
Neath coach Pat Horgan was disappointed his side couldn’t clinch
the Cup having led at half-time, saying: “Perhaps we’ve got ourselves to blame
a little bit. We put ourselves under
pressure in our own 22 [in the second half] and we shot ourselves in the foot.”
He also had nothing but praise for the unfortunate Langdon,
saying of him: “I’ve got a No10 in there who’s in tears with his performance,
but what I will say to David Langdon is he’s been a fantastic servant to Neath
Rugby Club since he came here. I’ve got huge admiration for him and he will
certainly bounce back.
“When it comes down to it Pontypridd are a better team than
us at the moment. They’ve overtaken us and it’s up to everybody
at Neath Rugby Club, not just coaches, not just the players, but people at
board level [to] push [us] forward now.
“Let’s get back, not to where Ponty are now, but let’s get
back on top of Ponty because that’s where we were [a few] years ago.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment