Ponty Preview

Jamie Crawford

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club was formed in 1876, and was sufficiently well established by March 1880 to be one of nine clubs that met at the Tenby Hotel, Swansea, to discuss the formation of a national union. Pontypridd finished fifth in last season’s Welsh Premiership, having played twenty-six, won sixteen, drawn two and lost eight. Pontypridd obviously had a strong defence last season, coming third in the points scored against league, leaking under eighteen points per game on average. They managed to score an average of nearly twenty-four points per game, which placed them seventh in the points scored league.

The Knights can’t formulate their game plan based on these strengths and weaknesses as Pontypridd will have worked on their offensive weakness and further strengthened their defence. The Welsh Premier Division (also called the Principality Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was mplemented for the 1990–91 season. For the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons it was renamed the Welsh-Scottish League with the addition of Edinburgh and Glasgow alongside the Welsh teams. Originally at the top tier of rugby in Wales, the league lost this status in 2003 with the implementation of the WRU’s "Regional Rugby" plan, by which the country would be represented in top-level competitions (i.e., the Magners League and Heineken Cup) by five (now four) regionally-based sides. The clubs in the Premier Division became largely developmental sides for the regional teams. From this season, the top six teams will play in the British and Irish Cup.

Lynn Howells is a strong advocate of a five-tiered structure, as noted on the official Pontpridd website, Ponty.net. Both Lynn & Brett Davey will be welcomed back as an ex- coach and ex-player of Pontypridd, including when Ponty won the Welsh Principality Cup final. In fact Lynn is greatly respected by Pontypridd Rugby Club, Ponty.net, still features him often. This includes this quote about the structure of Welsh rugby, “FORMER Celtic Warriors and Pontypridd coach Lynn Howells has insisted a new fifth Welsh region must be based in the valleys... “ It makes sense to me, any new team should be based up the valleys,” said Howells, who is now director of rugby at Doncaster. “No disrespect to North Wales, but the Valleys need an identity with rugby and the Welsh game needs the valleys as well.”” Big Tongan prop, Ngalu Tau also played for Pontypridd. There’s another Knight’s link, although tenuous, Pontypridd is in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. DRFC’s new Chief Executive is Rhonda Job.

This friendly will provide three opportunities for the Knights:

1. They will be able to assess their fitness and proficiency for the upcoming inaugural Championship season
2. It will also allow them to evaluate Welsh rugby style
3. It will permit the Knights to experience Pontypridd rugby team and Sardis Road ahead of the B & I Cup encounter held there in late November.

The Knights hope that Ponty’s offence doesn’t form an insurmountable assault and their defence hasn’t been strengthened sufficiently to become an overwhelming barrier.