Bonymaen 24-22 Pontypridd – Match Report
Pontypridd’s title hopes were dealt a blow at Parc Mawr as Bonymaen earned a dramatic win with the last kick of the match. Ponty themselves looked to have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Rob Jones burrowed over as the clock hit 80 minutes to put them into the lead. However, Bony were awarded a penalty with the last play of the match and flyhalf Lawrence Thomas held his nerve to seal an extremely valuable win for the home side.
Pontypridd got the match underway and started brightly. They received the ball back from a clearing Bonymaen box-kick, and a couple of phases later Aled Evans made a nice break in midfield before he was tackled, the ball was spun wide left but Stuart Floyd-Ellis was forced into touch.
The Valley Commandos continued to apply early pressure and forced a charge down from a clearing kick. The match was only five minutes old and was being played almost exclusively in the Bonymaen 22. Bony repelled Ponty holding the ball up over the tryline, but with penalty advantage in their back pocket Ioan Evans kicked the ball into the corner and from the lineout Jeffrey Young scored at the back of the rolling maul. The conversion was missed but the away side had an early 5-0 lead.
The match restarted and Bonymaen got themselves right into the contest, they started working the phases and Ponty gave away back-to-back penalties which allowed them to kick into the corner themselves. The home side’s lineout rolling maul proved as equally effective and no.8 Rhys Leonard scored from the back of it. Lawrence Thomas’ conversion nudged Bonymaen into the lead 7-5 after 14 minutes.
The home side’s celebrations turned to jubilation when they scored immediately from the kick-off restart. Bonymaen gained possession and the ball was fly-hacked through and centre Steffan Pryce-Griffiths won the race to score. Lawrence Thomas added a superb conversion from out wide and all of a sudden it was a two-score lead for Bony after 16 minutes.
The momentum swung to and fro in the opening half an hour, and it swung back towards Ponty during the next period in the match – a string of penalty awards which gave good field position was countered by a miss-firing Pontypridd lineout. Ponty were awarded a third penalty in fairly quick succession and this time Joel Raikes took it quickly and fed Oli Shepherd down the left, he was brought down but the away side still had possession of the ball. Looking for their second try, and with the tryline in touching distance Pontypridd were penalised for holding on.
Bonymaen cleared their lines, but it was only temporary respite for them. Ponty worked their way back into Bony territory and with the referee playing another penalty advantage Garyn Smith made a break and whilst being tackled gave a superb one-handed offload to the supporting Aled Evans who crashed over. Ioan Evans’ conversion closed the gap to 14 points to 12.
The match was now half an hour old with play on halfway. Bony were in possession but brilliant work at the breakdown from skipper Cally James won Ponty the penalty. In the aftermath of the penalty award Bonymaen blindside flanker Brandon Owens was sin-binned for dissent towards referee Joseff Rees.
Following the penalty the away side applied more lineout pressure in the Bony 22, only for the lineout to initially cost them again, but the clearing box-kick made little ground. From the resulting platform Oli Shepherd made another excellent break in midfield before a good carry from Morgan Bosanko laid the groundwork for Joe Miles to burrow over from close-range a couple of phases later. The conversion was missed but Pontypridd were back into the lead 17-14 as half-time approached.
The home side did have the opportunity to level the scores in the dying seconds of the opening period, but Lawrence Thomas’ penalty attempt drifted wide.
HALF TIME – Bonymaen 14-17 Pontypridd
Bonymaen kicked off the second half and were awarded a penalty shortly after play got underway following a high tackle by Pontypridd. Bony’s early second half pressure was repelled by some good Ponty defence both disrupting their attacking rolling mauls and via a breakdown turnover.
Pontypridd then won a penalty following a strong scrum set-piece which allowed them to advance upfield. A few minutes later Ponty had a lineout on halfway after Lawrence Thomas kicked the ball straight out. A few phases later Cally James made a superb break deep into Bony territory but his pass couldn’t find the hands of his supporting team mates and the chance went begging.
Joel Raikes was the next Ponty player to snipe and break as Ponty had another chance to turn pressure into points. However, he was hauled down by Bony left-wing Harrison Doe and his team were awarded a penalty at the breakdown – another chance for Ponty had come and gone.
As the match approached the hour mark proceedings got a little bit scrappy, a kick-tennis battle took place which Bonymaen edged and they found themselves with decent field position between Ponty’s 22 and 10-metre lines. Applying pressure when Pontypridd attempted to clear their lines, Bony charged down the clearing kick and with the ball bouncing up loose over the Ponty tryline it was knocked on in the process of gathering and grounding to score by the home side.
It was a near-miss for Ponty, but the home side would not be denied and they scored a few minutes later. Their rolling maul was becoming a stronger weapon as the match went on and after back-to-back penalty infringements from Ponty allowed Bony deeper field position, the dam burst when unlikely recipient left-winger Harrison Doe scored at the back of the home side’s rolling maul. Lawrence Thomas’ conversion was again successful and home side led 21-17 with the match now into the final quarter.
Attacking the car park end in the second half, the next ten minutes-plus of the match took place in the left hand corner with Ponty attacking that end of the ground. This period of play took a repetitive sequence events – Ponty pressure on the Bonymaen tryline kept being repelled by stoic defence by the home side. Inaccurate Ponty lineouts, or disrupted rolling mauls were a constant feature, but due to Bony being unable to make any sort of meaningful ground from their clearing touch-finding kicks, Pontypridd were invited to have ‘another go’ on numerous occasions.
Into the last 10 minutes, Ponty had a good attacking platform from a scrum but spilled the ball in midfield when attacking. But the referee was playing penalty advantage and rather than kicking to touch the away side took another scrum. Ponty attacked and Bonymaen were shown another yellow card, this time to replacement James Osbourne for a high tackle on Jaydan Pugh.
The match was now entering its final few minutes with score still standing at 21-17 to the home side. Another Ponty attack proved fruitless and Bony cleared their lines deep into Ponty territory – Dale Stuckey gathered and went on a personal counter-attack, only to be brought down on halfway, but there were two knock-ons with the first going in Ponty’s favour which gave them another chance as the seconds elapsed. The Valley Commandos attacked and the ball was spilled, however, Bony were offside and Ponty drilled the kick deep into the corner. From the lineout replacement hooker Rob Jones crashed over as the clock ticked over the 80-minute mark. The touchline conversion was missed but Pontypridd had a one-point lead 22-21.
There was time for the match to restart and the drama continued. Ponty received the kick-off and cleared their lines, Bonymaen attacked but knocked the ball on in contact just outside the Pontypridd 22. Ponty fed into their own scrum and went through the phases to run down more time on the clock. After a few phases Dale Stuckey’s clearing kick from in his own 22 was semi-charged down, but Ponty regained possession. Jaydan Pugh then found himself in possession of the ball and was tackled, and at the resulting breakdown Bonymaen were awarded a penalty. It was now definitely the last play of the match, and Bony flyhalf Lawrence Thomas stepped up and his successful penalty attempt sealed a 24-22 win and sent the home side’s fans into raptures.
It was a disappointing finish to the contest for Pontypridd who left Parc Mawr with two bonus points as consolation for their efforts on the evening. The Valley Commandos will need to quickly lick their wounds ahead of Merthyr visiting Sardis next Saturday 22nd March for what will be the biggest match of the season to date in a top-of-the-table clash.
FULL TIME – Bonymaen 24-22 Pontypridd (14/3/2025)
Match report – Geraint Thomas
PONTYPRIDD –
15. Oli Shepherd. 14. Louis Rochefort-Shugar. 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis (Jaydan Pugh). 12. Garyn Smith. 11. Jude Williams (Dale Stuckey). 10. Ioan Evans. 9. Joel Raikes (Lucus Welch).
1. Kian Mattravers. 2. Jeff Young (Rob Jones). 3. Morgan Bosanko. 4. Mitch Barnard. 5. Kristian Parker. 6. Aled Evans (Lloyd Riley). 7. Cally James (c). 8. Joe Miles.
Subs: 16. Rob Jones. 17. Garyn Daniel. 18. Dan Cotterell. 19. Oliver Lewis. 20. Lloyd Riley. 21. Lucus Welch. 22. Jaydan Pugh. 23. Dale Stuckey.
Tries: Jeff Young, Aled Evans, Joe Miles, Rob Jones
Conversion: Ioan Evans
BONYMAEN –
15. Sam Jones. 14. Nathan Brooks. 13. Scott Clancy. 12. Steffan Pryce-Griffiths. 11. Harrison Doe. 10. Lawrence Thomas. 9. Gareth Andrew.
1. Ricky James. 2. Zac Pearce. 3. Lewys Bullock. 4. Olly Davis. 5. Joe Yeates (c). 6. Brandon Owens. 7. Alex Jones. 8. Rhys Leonard.
Subs: 16. Richard Murphy. 17. Jordan Farley. 18. Gideon Nkurunziza. 19. Trystan Herdman. 20. James Osborne. 21. Daniel Brooks. 22. Stuart Thorne. 23. Jacob Abbott.
Tries: Rhys Leonard, Steffan Pryce-Griffiths, Harrison Doe
Conversions: Lawrence Thomas x 3
Penalty: Lawrence Thomas
Yellow Cards: Brandon Owens, James Osborne
Referee: Joseff Rees
Assistant Referee/Third Official: Jon Hardy
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