Jack Beddis seals precious hard-fought victory for Pontefract RUFC

The YMCA team are having a poor season and on paper Ponte would have expected a win with a four try bonus point thrown in. This was not to be as the conditions proved a leveller and Ponte had to put in a fantastic effort just to get the victory.

They played into driving wind and rain first half and it was important the team got to half-time with not too much damage to the scoreboard.

This was made easier when Ponte took an early lead as Liam Kay, with the benefit of a free ball for a scrum penalty, put in a well judged grubber kick into the corner for young winger Lucas Ketteridge to pounce on for a try. Unsurprisingly the conversion was missed, but it was a fine start.

It was important to keep hold of the ball into the wind and Ponte paid a heavy price for kicking it away in the opposition 22 as the home full- back kicked long with the wind to gain position near the line. From the resulting line-out the YMCA forwards rumbled their way over for an unconverted try.

From there on in it was a battle to get to the break without letting the home team score again. Ponte lost rampaging centre Harry McAllister to a wrist injury, but his replacement Sam Millard ran some superb lines, including one break when he put in an ill-judged kick with just the full-back to beat.

Unfortunately, Ponte could not make half-time without conceding as YMCA scored a replica try to their first to make it 10-5.

It was expected to be straight forward for the visitors in the second half, but with the conditions making handling difficult and an increasing penalty count against them, Ponte had to be patient. Their main weapon of late has been the scrum and in the first half YMCA had held it reasonably well. As the game went on, however, the dominance increased.

A close in scrum against the head led to number eight Jack Beddis just failing to touch down due to a knock on. He made amends soon after for a try converted expertly by Kay.

The hosts rallied and good hands put their strong running winger away only for full-back Richard Dedicoat to shake off the effects of hyperthermia and pull off the cover tackle of the season.

With the last play of the game Ponte deprived YMCA of a deserved bonus point with another try from Beddis as he barged his way past a couple of shivering backs for a converted try following a five-metre scrum.

Best for Ponte on the day were Niall Sandwith, Leo Harrison and Tad Nyanjowa, each having possibly their best games of the season. Credit to all the backs who stuck at it all the game despite the horrendous cold.

Third-placed Pontefract host Roundhegians this Saturday.