Fixture

After a loss at Sardis road before Christmas, Mountain Ash Youth, who are sponsored by KFC and Dominoes, welcomed unbeaten League leaders, Pontypridd Youth, to the Rec, a pitch with old fashioned mud and a tiny bit of grass. As the teams warmed up for the game, the difference in size between each was vast, Pontypridd with their well drilled gym enhanced giants of forwards all looking years older than the Mountain Ash boys. Minutes into the game, a kick by Pontypridd deep into Mount territory saw the Young Firm fail to clear the ball with the result that a 5 metre lineout was a driven over by Ponty’s giant forwards for a 5-0 lead. Unphased, the Young Firm hit back in great style. From the restart, Mount turned the ball over on halfway. Scrum half Morgan Cartwright put in a lovely chip over the top which outside half Morgan James got to first and passed to wing Cory Roberts who scored a great try in the corner, to make it 5-5. The game then became a cyclical stalemate for an hour with the referee awarding penalty after penalty to Ponty, all of which were kicked to touch. Mount would then defend heroically, turn the ball over, and attack up the field only to get penalised and the cycle to start all over again. When allowed to play, the Mount backline caused Ponty real problems with Jarrod Cushion looking a real threat. Morgan James kicked two penalties to put Mount 11-5 up ahead and although the Young Firm also had two players sin binned, they held on for a famous, but deserved, win over their old rivals. The whole Mount team were terrific on the day but special mention must be made of the backrow of Captain Cameron Davies, and flankers Owen Jenkins, who played with a leg injury, and Daniel Phillips, who was surely Mount’s man of the match. These three totally outplayed the talented Ponty backrow.

The Mountain Ash team v Pontypridd was as follows:

Lewys Phibben

Josh Davies

Connor Tedstone

Kellan Williams

Mitchell Barnard

Owen Jenkins

Daniel Phillips

Cam Davies

Morgan Cartwright

Morgan James

Jamie Long

Iwan Pearson

Garrin Williams

Corey Roberts

Jarrad Cushion

Substitutes: TJ Stokes, Keiron Hawkins, Ethan Conway, Callum Williams.

Daniel Townley Keogh, Rhys Davies.
 

All these boys played out of their skin to take Pontypridd’s unbeaten record. They were fantastic.