More than 2000 fans created a lively atmosphere in the St Peter ground, the crowd bolstered by hundreds of travelling Pontypridd supporters.
The home scrum dominated proceedings from the start and on 7 minutes, the retreating Ponty set piece yielded a penalty, kicked by outside half Michael le Bourgeois. With the wind at the backs of the Islanders, their forward dominance prevented Pontypridd from gaining any attacking momentum.
A couple of threatening incursions into the Jersey 22 came to nothing as Gary Williams fumbled a pass early on, and then later in the half, Pat Palmer also failed to gather a crucial pass. But against the run of play, on 32 minutes a rumbling Ponty forward drive led to Craig Locke touching down. His try was converted by Dai Flanagan.Â
Three minutes later, another strong Jersey scrum ended in a Ponty infringement and le Bourgeois slotted over another penalty to make it 6-7 with five minutes of the half left. But right on the stroke of half time, the Jersey pack demolished a Ponty scrum, allowing scrum half Nicky Griffiths to dart over for a try, converted by le Bourgeois.
Simultaneously, a fracas erupted among the two sets of forwards resulting in yellow cards for Jersey captain Nathan Hannay and Ponty’s Pat Palmer. Both teams left the field short of a forward and with the home side leading 13-7.
Ponty began the second half with the wind behind them and were rewarded with an early Flanagan drop goal. On 50 minutes the fly-half brought the scores level with a penalty but the Islanders responded with a series of pressure only for Ponty to defend valiantly.
Dale McIntosh’s side could only hold out for so long though and the scrum again proved problematical for Ponty. After three re-set scrums close to the Ponty line, the referee awarded Jersey a penalty try and le Bourgeois added the conversion.
Jersey led 20-13 just after the hour but Ponty soon regained their attacking momentum, Flanagan put a penalty effort wide before a sweeping three-quarter move was undone by a forward pass.
As the minutes ticked by, the play was still mainly confined to the forwards, with Jersey still shading those exchanges. But Ponty then split the Jersey defence with a grubber kick and replacement Tom Pascoe followed up to touch down for a try with just five minutes remaining.
Flanagan’s conversion tied the scores at 20-20 with five minutes to go. And although a frantic last few minutes saw Ponty strive for a match-winning score, a hard-fought game ended in an honourable draw.Â
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