Jersey 20 Pontypridd 20
British & Irish Cup
Jersey produced a dominant display against the reigning
Principality Premiership champions but were nevertheless unable to
register their first win of the season after six straight
Championship defeats.
"It's a flat result for us - I thought Ponty were there for the
taking and we should have won," said Jersey Director of Rugby Ben
Harvey. "We are still making mistakes, and I also felt we didn't
get much reward for our efforts in the scrum during the first
half."
The Jersey scrum earned an early penalty chance for kicker Mike
Le Bourgeois and the fly-half slotted the 45-metre effort with
aplomb.
Pontypridd scored from their first serious foray into Jersey's
half, a driving maul ending with Craig Locke peeling round the side
and reaching at full stretch to place the ball on the line.
Jersey finished the half stronger, with Le Bourgeois adding a
second penalty and then Nicky Griffiths forced his way over from a
tap penalty. The try sparked an extensive brawl, earning yellow
cards for Jersey's Nathan Hannay and Ponty's Huw Dowden, the latter
joining his colleague Pat Palmer in the bin after an earlier
offence.
After David Flanagan levelled the scores early in the second
period with a drop goal and penalty, Jersey again turned up the
heat and finally the pressure told with a penalty try on the hour.
But Ponty refused to lie down and replacement Tom Pascoe was first
to a clever chip through by Carl Thomas to earn the tying score
with five minutes left.
Pontypridd Head Coach Dale McIntosh said he took some
satisfaction from an away draw, but felt his side has
under-delivered.
"We tried to come here and express ourselves and play the type
of rugby that wins games and competitions, but we didn't perform
anywhere near our ability and that's disappointing."
McIntosh criticised the B&I Cup ruling prohibiting coaching
staff from talking to officials at half-time.
"The whistle was going every two seconds and it seemed
inconsistent - we didn't know what was going wrong," he said. "If
you don't know what's wrong, you can't put it right, and I think
everyone - players and spectators - deserve better than that."
Jersey were awarded 19 penalties to Ponty's 7, but both sides
finished with two league points each in Pool 5.
Pontypridd: Walsh, Williams LI, Lockyer (Pascoe
72, & Williams LK 75), Williams G, Williams O, Flanagan,
Thomas C; Roberts (Jenkins 62), Dowden, Palmer, Locke, Dicomidis
(capt), Siggery, O'Connor (Jenkins 38-27), Thomas J (Harris 41-49,
Godfrey 62). Replacements not used: Raikes,
Sieniawski.
Jersey: Davies, Tellwright, Bishop (Sanders
46), Maggs, Dawson, Le Bourgeois, Griffiths (McCormack 78);
McCarthy (Barrington 58), Felton, Gethings (Brennan 67), Hannay
(capt), Rodgers, Markham, Lang, Thompson(Anderson 23).
Replacements not used: Voss, Copsey.
Referee: Nigel Correll
Attendance: 2,113
Man-of-the-match: Nicky Griffiths (Jersey)
Half-time: 13-7
Scorers
Jersey
Tries: Griffiths 39, penalty try 60
Conversions: Le Bourgeois 39, 60
Penalties: Le Bourgeois 6, 32
Pontypridd
Tries: Locke 29, Pascoe 75
Conversions: Flanagan 29, 75
Penalty: Flanagan 50
Drop Goal: Flanagan 43
