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The first game of the new year saw the Cherries away to Cwmtwrch, a team we had beaten earlier this season. The team were wearing new kit. The opportunity was taken prior to kick off, and before the kit saw mud, to take a team photograph under the Cwmtwrch rugby posts. It was poignant to see Kristian Slee’ s name stitched into the arm of the jerseys.

The weather was reasonable, dry albeit a little cold in the shade but OK in the sunshine. The wind was slight and across the field. Ponty won the toss and Cwmtwrch kicked off playing down the slope. Ponty started well with lots of good phases of running and attack that soon took play to the Cwmtwrch 22. Confidence was high and a number of penalty attempts ignored in favour of possible tries. Some 15 minutes into the game, in our own 22 we saw the Cwmtwrch attack drop a pass and Mike Hodges kick and chase the ball back up the field, three further such kicks taken at full pace and closely chased by defenders saw him get the ball over the try line and him dive on it to score the first points of the match. What a try ! Five minutes later saw Ieaun Johns of Cwmtwrch equalise through supporting his winger who put through a lovely grubber kick on the half way managing another when simultaneously tackled on the 22 metre which Ieaun dived upon as it rolled over the tryline. So at the end of the first quarter the score was even at 5 all, Ponty were dominating much of the play and retaining possession well. 

5 minutes later Ben Jenkins scored a similar try this time on the right hand side of the pitch for Cwmtwrch to go ahead 10 - 5 and the momentum switched towards them particularly in the line outs for much of the remainder of the half. They added another 3 points from a penalty awarded for a high tackle a minute from half time.  

Half time score 13 -5

However 2 minutes into the second half saw Ponty move the ball from broken play from the left hand side across the field to the right which wasn’t easy as tackles were coming in right, left and centre and required good decisions to be made by those in attack. Dai Morris for example who picked the ball up from the ground, took the tackle but still got the pass away to continue the movement which saw Mike Hodges make 20 yards of ground before drawing and passing to Calum Jones on the right wing who needed to run as fast has he could to score the try in the right hand corner.    

The momentum of the game switched back to Ponty who were now playing downhill with lots of vigour. Good power play and breaks by Ponty kept the home side stuck defending their try line in their right corner. A Ponty scrum nearly drove over for a try and a pick up from another saw scrum half Leon Withey go over in the corner for Ponty to regain the lead at 13-15 , twelve minutes into the half.  The power play continued into the final quarter, the start of which Ponty went further ahead after slotting the penalty awarded by Referee Neil Howells from Maesteg. 

The game then seemed to lose its way a bit as both sides neutralised each other out in some tough physical encounters and the energy sapping soft and sticky pitch also played its part. So the final score was 13-18, a very good win on the road for the Cherries. 

for A couple of kickable penalties were awarded in our favour by Referee Neil Howells from Maesteg which were run instead, keeping the pressure on home team but unfortunately yielding no points