News Every Day | 11 September 2023, 21:13

Matchday Preview – Pontypridd v Llandovery

This Saturday 16th September Pontypridd welcome League Champions Llandovery to town. The Indigo Premiership match between the two clubs at Sardis Road is a 2:30pm kick-off.

Last season the two teams met home and away in the space of just over a month in the Premiership. On Saturday 7th January 2023 Llandovery outscored Ponty by three tries to nil and came away from Sardis with a 23-12 win – Ponty’s points coming via four Ben Burnell penalties. Then on Saturday 11th February it was a case of another one that got away from Pontypridd last season, the Valley Commandos put in valiant performance only to suffer a late 20 points to 19 loss. A second half try from Niko Matawalu and some expert place-kicking from Jamie Murphy wasn’t quite enough when Jack Maynard’s late penalty effort saw The Drovers home by the barest of margins.

Niko Matawalu powering his way over the Llandovery try-line to score back in February.

To the present, Pontypridd were looking to build on the team’s 19-all draw against Cardiff on the opening weekend of the season when they travelled to Ebbw Vale last Saturday. Unfortunately for Ponty The Steelmen of Ebbw lived up to their nickname and dogged out a deserved 38-21 at the Ciner Glass Community Stadium. Ponty will need a much improved performance this Saturday against Champions Llandovery who sit top of the table with two wins from two and scoring nearly 100 points combined in the process – last Saturday they beat Merthyr 38-12 at Church Bank following a 54-31 win away at Carmarthen Quins on the opening day of the season.

There’s no better way of getting the season back on track than with a win against the League Champions – c’mon the Pont!

SUPPORTER INFORMATION:

Tickets – Admission on the day will be £12 full, £10 concession access-all-areas and under 16’s free if accompanied by a paying adult. You can purchase tickets on the day or to save time can use our online e-Ticket system, link – e-Tickets for Pontypridd v Llandovery – The club has increased the range of tickets now available to cover small groups (2 people) and large groups (4 people). We are also have a family ticket for our Youth and Mini & Junior sections.

Club Shop – To purchase your Ponty RFC merchandise, the Club Shop will be open for one hour both before and after Saturday’s match.

Live Sport – The Clubhouse will be open from midday and there’s a varied selection of live sport for supporters to enjoy before and after Ponty play Llandovery. There’s Premier League football – Wolves v Liverpool (12:30pm kick-off), Premiership Rugby Cup – Bath v Jersey (1:00pm kick-off) plus three matches from the 2023 Rugby World Cup throughout the afternoon – Samoa v Chile (2:00pm kick-off), Wales v Portugal* (4:45pm kick-off) and Ireland v Tonga (8:00pm kick-off).

*Wales v Portugal’s kick-off time is perfect for Ponty and Llandovery supporters to settle into the Clubhouse at Sardis Road following the conclusion of the Premiership match between the two sides, AND, Before and during Wales v Portugal, there will be something different going on in the Clubhouse at Sardis Road. W Communications’ content presenter ‘Ruck Star Lizzie’, on behalf of Papa Johns Pizza, will be chatting and filming content with fans in the hour prior to Wales’ kick-off. She will be bringing an entertaining vibe to the day which will include fun-based pizza challenges and they will be providing free pizza for supporters both before and at half-time of Wales’ match.