Fixture

Pontypridd RFC | Youth Team Under 18 40 - 41 Mountain Ash RFC | Youth Team Under 18

Match Report
27 November 2018 / Team News

Young Firm Win Thriller at Sardis Road

Pontypridd Youth v Mountain Ash Youth at the “House of Pain” in Sardis Road in the Blues Youth Premiership Division was a top of the table clash. The Young Firm travelled down to Sardis Road full of hope at getting their first win against Pontypridd Youth on their famous 4G pitch. In recent years the Mount team has not played at their best in Ponty and the last time a victory was secured was a long time ago. However, with the Young Firm having a pretty strong team this year, they were quietly confident of their chances.

The game kicked off and for 10 minutes it was a cagey affair and then all hell broke loose.

Mount's forwards totally demolished Ponty’s pack with the backrow of Ethan James, Owen Jenkins and Ryan Jenkins dominating the game, helped by a fired up Kieran Coomer and the rest of the pack. It led to Mount scoring 3 quick tries through Owen Jenkins, Jarrod Cushion and Ethan Conway to put the Young Firm in total control. Ryan Jenkins at this point was totally unplayable once again.

Ponty came back into the game and scored two tries to make it 22-13 to Mount with half time beckoning. Mount’s weakness this season has been their lineout due to having no specialist hooker and that’s where Ponty fought back. A minute from half time Ponty took a lineout deep in Mount territory and drove to the Mount line. What followed next was incredible. The Ponty juggernaut strolled to the Mount try line, their 6 broke off to score what looked like a certain try only to be met with a massive tackle from backrow forward Owen Jenkins. The ball bounced loose and his brother, another backrow forward, Ryan, picked the loose ball up and sped up to the Mount 22. He bumped two Ponty defenders off and had three quarters of the field to run. What followed was a foot race between the Mount No.8 and the Ponty 15, and incredibly it ended in Jenkins touching down in the corner to score an absolutely brilliant try. What a finish it was to the half and it gave Mount a 27-13 half time lead.

The second half saw the Young Firm dominate once more and Ethan Conway scored a fantastic try under the posts after leaving the Ponty defence for dead. This made the score 34-13 to Mount. Once again Mount tore Ponty apart and Jarrod Cushion made a great break from inside his own 22 to get within a whisker of the Ponty try line only for the chance for the try to go begging.

Inexplicably, Mount started to panic, and indiscipline and some questionable refereeing decisions allowed Ponty back into the game with Mount conceding two tries from lineouts. The Young Firm had to dig deep and they did exactly that. Forward Mitchell Barnard turned over ball inside his own 22 and went on a weaving run that took him into Ponty's 22. The Mount pack managed to get to him quickly enough and quick ball was moved wide to prop Kieran Coomer who stepped inside to score a fantastic try, the conversion making the score 41-28 to the Young Firm.

Supporters might have thought the game was over but how wrong they were. Back came Ponty and with Mount down to 14 men they scored another two tries to set up a nail biting finish, Mount winning in the end 41-40.

Special mention must go to the Mount pack for an outstanding, gritty performance. There were stand-out performances from Kieran Coomer, Mitchell Barnard, and Owen Jenkins, who were absolutely fantastic. The backs also put 110% into game with brilliant performances from Jarrod Cushion, Ethan Conway and Jamie Long.

But, Man of the Match was undoubtedly backrow forward Ryan Jenkins, who stole the show with a performance filled with pace and power. Accompanied by his older brother, Owen, and Ethan James, this back row is proving a real handful for teams. Special mention as well for Ewan Rees who has been out for almost a year with a niggling knee injury. He gave a fantastic performance and his work rate was phenomenal. Welcome back Ewan

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