PONTEFRACT 31 OLD CROSSLEYANS 31
It was a lovely day for open rugby and the two teams did not disappoint. Crossleyans are a very good team and Pontefract found the going tough as their efforts to play their usual expansive game ran into some outstanding defence and work at the breakdown. Pontefract’s forwards had a torrid time the week before but their dominance in the set piece this week gave them the platform to compete.
Number eight Gaz Burns was the beneficiary as he continued his outstanding season by scoring a hat trick of tries, all from scrums near the opposition line. The first try was converted by Liam Kaye and put Ponte into a seven nil lead.
With the help of some loose play and ill-discipline from Ponte, Crocs came battling back. They put the Ponte defence to the sword by scoring three unanswered tries to lead by seventeen to seven just before the interval. It was great credit to Ponte that on the last play of the half, despite having a player in the sin bin, the team put numerous phases together to allow winger Stuart Sanderson to score in the corner reducing the deficit to five points at half time.
Soon after the interval Burns scored his second converted try from a scrum and it seemed Ponte were heading for a victory. Crocs had other ideas and replied with two tries, one from a cross field kick and the other from a long kick which, bizarrely, resulted in Burns having the ball stripped by a winger to go under the posts.
Losing thirty-one to nineteen with less than ten minutes to go, it seemed like the game had gone. However, the forward dominance throughout the game began to take effect on the visitors and Pontes best handling move of the game allowed winger Richard Hossack to score under the posts following an elusive Sanderson break and offload.
With minutes to go, and five points behind, Ponte gained excellent field position and it seemed a penalty try would be forthcoming as the pack dominated scrum after scrum and Crocs conceded penalty after penalty. The referee did not have to make that decision however as Burns, from the last play of the game, scored another pushover try.
With the scores locked there was a moment of farce as the conversion from Kaye, was fleetingly given by the touch judge, only to be rightly disallowed as Ponte celebrated victory.
This was a game Ponte could easily have lost and plaudits should be given to the team that they refused to give up. Special mention should go to the young players such as Matthews, Watts and Nyanjowa, as well as stalwarts such as Griffin, Hill, Scholey and Sandwith.
