BBC SPORT | CELTIC | Neath take control

Neath 47-14 Pontypridd

Pontypridd, sapped by their European heroics, were humbled by Welsh/Scottish League title-chasers Neath at the Gnoll on Friday night.

The visitors were forced to name many of their usual starting line-up on the bench, after their against-the-odds Parker Pen Shield semi-final win over London Irish last weekend.

Neath were in no mood to go easy and five tries, plus a metronomic kicking performance from fly-half Lee Jarvis rubbed the point home.

Scoring details:

Neath (19) 44:
Tries: Llewellyn, Storey, Tiueti, Dewdney, Moore.
Cons: Jarvis 5.
Pens: Jarvis 4.

Pontypridd (8) 14:
Try: Nuttall.
Pens: Davey 3.

Att: 4,000

Neath coach Lyn Jones had and added boost after the final whistle with the news that title rivals Llanelli had lost at Edinburgh.

It sets up an intriguing derby with age old rivals Swansea at St Helen's on Tuesday night, with the added spice of a league title up for grabs by Neath.

In a scrappy first half, neither side was able to put together a decent passage of play as the whistle of referee Nigel Williams dominated.

The fault, however, lay with both sets of players, who seemed determined to infringe every rule in the book, certainly at the tackle area.

Referee Williams had little choice but to award a stream of penalties for players diving in, not releasing, not staying on their feet and generally trying the official's patience.

Lee Jarvis made the most of his chances for Neath, striking three successful penalties for the home side, while Brett Davey replied with a solitary penalty for Pontypridd.

With 20 minutes gone, Williams' was forced into showing the first of three yellow cards as Neath back-row Alfie Mocelutu found himself isolated and decided to hang onto the ball to earn 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Pontypridd wing Matthew Nuttall
Matthew Nuttall scored Pontypridd's only try

The reason for much of Ponty's infringing was the enormous pressure being exerted on their forwards by the Neath pack, who were starting to boss proceedings.

Jarvis was given another chance to lengthen Neath's lead and struck a fine 55-metre kick plumb between the posts to make it 12-3.

Pontypridd left wing Matthew Nuttall underlined his potential with a chip-and-chase that earned the youngster a deserved try, although Dean Dewdney had the chance to clear the danger only to run past the ball.

Despite Davey missing the conversion, the try briefly lifted Ponty spirits only for Glen Remnant to be sin-binned four minutes later.

The absence of the New Zealander from the back-row left Ponty short-handed in defence, allowing Neath skipper Gareth Llewellyn to change the angle of a driving maul and flop over the line for a try converted by Jarvis.

With first-half injury time being played, Pontypridd prop Duncan Bell was also yellow carded after popping out of the scrum one too many times.

Neath wing Dave Tiueti
Dave Tiueti was a thorn in Pontypridd's side

Davey drew first blood in the second half with a penalty to bring the score back to 19-11, but Neath put the result beyond doubt with three tries in 10 minutes.

First Dave Tiueti came off his wing to burst through the Ponty midfield and offload a perfect pass to James Storey on his elbow for a score under the posts.

Although Davey added his third penalty, Tiueti claimed a deserved try from close range before a long pass by the Tongan gave Dewdney the chance to atone for his earlier mistake with an easy run-in.

Jarvis converted all three tries to make it 40-14 with a quarter of the match to go, the fly-half having taken his personal tally to 20 points.

Neath scrum-half Andy Moore added a deserved try before the end, with his half-back partner predictably adding the extra two points, as Pontypridd waited hopefully for the full-time whistle.

Neath: S Connor; K James, D Tiueti, J Storey, D Dewdney; L Jarvis, A Moore; D Jones, B Williams, A Millward, S Martin, G Llewellyn (capt), AMocelutu, B Sinkinson, N Bonner-Evans.
Reps: G Morris, A Bateman, S Jones, R Francis, L Bateman, P James, A Jones.

Pontypridd: B Davey; G Wyatt, J Lewis, J Bryant, M Nuttall; N Little, G Baber: G Jenkins, M Davies, D Bell, B Cockbain, D McIntosh (capt), R Field, C Harris, G Remnant.
Reps: S John, C Sweeney, S Parker, M Rees, S Cronk, N Kelly, R Parks.

Referee: Nigel Williams (WRU).


	^^ Back to top
	Front Page \| Football \| Cricket \| Rugby Union \| Rugby League \| Tennis \| Golf \| Motorsport \| Boxing \| Athletics \| Other Sports \| Sports Talk \| In Depth \| Photo Galleries \| TV & Radio \| BBC Pundits \| Question of Sport \| Funny Old Game ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> \| BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMII \| News Sources \| Privacy