Saturday started unpromisingly with heavy rain, but by the time we arrived in Moortown it felt like an Indian Summer had broken out in North Leeds, and the conditions were perfect for open rugby.

Looking at the history of this fixture in recent years, shows that Moortown have had a significant edge having won seven matches to Pontefract’s single victory. Nevertheless, after last week’s win Ponte were in confident mood as the game kicked off. Supported by a vocal home crowd Moortown also fancied their chances and therefore the scene was set for a memorable game.

Moortown had the better of the earlier encounters, with Ponte on back foot having lost Bailey Matthews to the sin bin for pulling down a maul after four minutes. This gave the home team some confidence to play some good rugby and attack at every opportunity. Unusually the Pontefract defence was breached in the centre of the park after just eight minutes allowing the opposition to take the lead with a converted try.

It wasn’t long however before Ponte got back onto equal terms with their own converted try from Kay who dummied over after some fine work by the forwards at the line out and strong running by Tad Nyanjowa.

Back up to full strength some keen defence held up Moortown over the line, and from the resulting drop out Ponte were able to move back up the field with Cooke scoring in the corner after twenty-two minutes. A missed conversion meant that Ponte lead 7:12.
A string of penalties left the home crowd incensed but gave Pontefract field position which they capitalised on with Josh Beddis scoring just before half time. The conversion was missed. The half was not yet over however as Moortown hit back with their own unconverted try on the stroke of half time to make the score 12:17.

The second half was an ultra-competitive affair, played at a breakneck pace. It wasn’t long before Moortown scored again, with a long-range effort, although there was a hint of a forward pass, but the referee was unsighted. A few minutes later Andy Coleman stole the ball in controversial circumstances to feed Kay for his second try of the day and to seal the bonus point. 19:24. The lead was further extended to 19:27 by a Kay penalty.

Moortown continued to play tenacious rugby however and closed the gap to just one point with a converted try in the corner. 26:27. In response Ponte went on the attack in the final minutes, and managed to cross the line twice, but fumbled the ball on both occasions. Moortown did not waste their opportunity and covered the length of the field to score in the corner with the last play of the game to take the win 31:27.

The sense of disappointment in the Ponte camp was tangible. Both teams played good rugby, and the game could have gone either way. Ponte had their chances but were not clinical when it mattered which provided Moortown the chance they needed.

The Pontefract pack dominated the scrums, and there were some fine performances from Nyanjowa, Potts, the Matthews Brothers and Beddis. It was also good to see Josh Stuart back in a Ponte shirt for the first time this season.

In the backs Kay, Coleman, Copley and Cooke all impressed. As always, we appreciate the match official Mark Smith who had a fine game.

Ponte now lie seventh in the league. Next week we entertain Morley at home. Kick off 3pm. All welcome. There is a former players lunch before the game. If anyone would like to attend, please contact chair@pontefractrufc.com.