Pont made the short journey to Hollybush last Saturday knowing anything less than a win would spell the end of their promotion hopes.
Both team exchanged early penalties from the boots of Rhys Powell and Kieron Edwards before Pontllanfraith centre come winger Ben Walker crossed the whitewash in the corner for the opening try. Rhys Powell added the difficult extras from the touchline. Pont squandered possession from the restart and while the Ref was playing advantage, the Hollybush 10 Liam Morgan slotted a dropgoal to bring the hosts back within 4 points. In what was an extremely tense battle prop Jay Williams was putting in a great display with a number of superb physical carries getting Pont over the gainline and soon the boys in blue extended their lead when the backs put the ball through the hands and a beautiful offload from Tommy Bill Haddock put winger Johnny Sidestep in for the score. With only minutes left before half time, one again Pont's exit from the restart didn't go to plan and good work from the Hollybush forwards saw Ben Nash go over for the home sides first try, although fortunately for Pont they missed the conversion from in front of the posts.
HT: Hollybush 11-15 Pontllanfraith
After the break, with a Hollybush forward in the sin bin, the Pont pack turned the screw at scrum time and after a series of scrum penalties, backrower Matthew Williams went over for Pont's third try from close range. More cards were to follow as replacement hooker Alex Prosser and a Hollybush second rower both recieved straight red cards for some handbags. A broken hand to try scorer Ben Walker forced Pont to reshuffle, and with no more backs subs available Captain Nathan Meyrick had to shuffle from openside flanker to the wing. He almost got on the scoresheet within minutes of the change, after stripping his opposite number, Meyrick narrowly lost the footrace after chasing his kick over the top of the opposition. With time running out, and Mark Counsell in the sin bin, Hollybush got a second try from their captain Tom Hancock but it was too late to affect the result but did earn the home side a vital losing bonus point.
FT: Hollybush 16-22 Pontllanfraith
Game was a great advert for lower league local rugby with great support for both teams. Overall delighted with the result but we definately felt we left points out there. With Rhayader dropping out of the league, this Saturday Pont travel to mid-Wales to face Tref-y-Clawdd before ending the season away to Girling 21st April.
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