Pontefract RUFC v Roundhegians

Pontefract made the journey to Leeds to face Roundhegians in their 8th league match of the season.
The first half began with an early territory battle. Both sets of backs were sending long, searching kicks into the opposition’s half; trying to put their teams in the right zones of the park to attack from. The territory battle was taking place on the ground as well as in the air with Pontefract withstanding Roundhegians’ attacking runs. After solid defensive play, Pontefract gave Roundhegians an opportunity to take the lead when they conceded a penalty. Alex Jones stepped up to give the home side a three point lead – 3-0 to Roundhegians.
The boys in blue and white regrouped after this setback and took the attack to Roundhegians. From a scrum in their own half, Walker played the ball to Glenn Boyd who reversed the direction of play. by passing to Matthew Bacon who had ran to Boyd’s inside shoulder to attack the 10 channel. Bacon used his pace and power to carry the ball hard; bursting through tackles and making impressive ground. When Bacon was eventually chopped, the omnipresent Jack Beddis was on hand to take the offload and he ran the ball in for a try. Boyd stepped up to add the two points and give Pontefract a four point lead – 7-3 to Pontefract.
Pontefract conceded another penalty and this allowed Alex Jones to narrow the gap to one point – 7-6 to Pontefract.
Louis Brown, the visiting full back, was making numerous, effective breaks in the first half. One such break put Pontefract into a fantastic attacking position. By supplying quick ball to Glenn Boyd, he could draw the tackler before putting Dunn-Birch into the corner for a try. This went unconverted – 12-6 to Pontefract.
Pontefract were into their stride now and there was some strong attacking play to behold. The Ponte’ boys were going forward in numbers and their support play was impressive. Louis Brown made another characteristic break, through the opposition defence, before offloading to Ross Shand. The visitors’ outside centre carried forward and beat a number of defenders before offloading to Jack Beddis. Beddis carried hard before seeing space out wide. He distributed the ball to Jonny Hill who unselfishly passed to Richard Dedicoat to score Pontefract’s third try of the first half. This also went unconverted and the visitors went into the break with an eleven point lead – 17-6 to Pontefract.
The second half was a different story to the first. Pontefract saw their lead diminishing as a result of ill-discipline. Two kickable penalties were awarded to Roundhegians and the reliable Alex Jones stepped up to successfully bisect the uprights on both occasions – 17-12 to Pontefract.
The home side were gaining momentum as the second half went on and they were able to get into a position that suited them perfectly. A kick to the corner off a penalty meant they had a line-out deep in Pontefract’s half. After a successful take, the home forwards set up a maul and drove this forward. They proceeded to push this over for a try. Alex Jones calmly added the extras to give Roundhegians the lead with little time remaining – 19-17 Roundhegians.
The visiting side attacked with gusto, and with 14 men, in the dying minutes but a turnover near touch, as the clock ran down, allowed Roundhegians to clear for touch and for the victory.
Pontefract will be aiming to return to winning ways after the break for the Rugby World Cup final.