Ponty Match Report

Well done to all the boys who travelled to Ponty this morning. After our customary detour to the wrong playing fields, the Mumbles Wildcats took to the field represented by Arthur, Cam, Luca, Lloyd, Sam, Luke, Ethan, Tom H, Myles, Owen and Dylan. It turned into a great contest, with both sides playing hard rugby in the right spirit. Thanks go to Ian at Ponty for putting up a side to play both the Mumbles 9s and 10s, and to the Ponty boys for coping with switching between the different rules. Thanks also to Matt for reffing very sympathetically and keeping the game flowing. In the end it made for a much better spectacle than usual, with more ebb and flow, and more competitive turnovers. Perhaps the Pathway Law makers should have been watching!

Ponty looked strong at the start at took a deserved lead with the opening try. But after some classical winger finishing from Dylan and Lloyd, and then a typical strong run from close quarters from Ethan, Mumbles were surprisingly 3-1 ahead. Ponty scored at the stroke of half time from a scrum and a lovely long pass and soon after the restart it was all square and game on. Ponty looked to have the edge as several try saving tackles went in from Cam and Luke. The game remained tight with the Ponty defence up quickly to smother attacks from Luca and Sam and on our side a huge defensive effort was put in, led by Owen, Myles, Arthur and Tom H. The deadlock was broken by Dylan seeing the tiniest of gaps and scorching down the touchline. And finally the game was won when Owen and Myles forced the ball loose, and Lloyd showed great skill in picking up and diving over in one movement. The reaction from the team was a picture. Not simply because they managed to win, but because it was such a hard fought match that could have gone either way. Certainly a re-match to look forward to in the second half of the season.