Colomiers: Try M Carre; Penalties D Skrela 3.Pontypridd: B Davey; G Wyatt, J Lewis, S Parker, R Greenslade-Jones; L Jarvis, P John (capt); C Loader, A Lamerton, S Cronk, W James, I Gough (J Machacek, 40-46), M Lloyd, G P Lewis, D McIntosh.Colomiers: J-L Sadourny; D Skrela, S Roque, J Sieurac, B Lhande; M Carre (M Biboulet, 17-28), F Galthie (capt); J-P Beyssen (R Nones, 58), M Dal Maso (G Laurent, 75), W Begarie, J-P Revaillier (G Moro, 69), J-M Lorenzi, P Tabacco, B De Giusti, S Peysson.Referee: J Fleming (Sco). Their skipper, the French scrum-half Fabien Galthie, decided he would engage in a running battle with the Scottish referee and his side paid a high price.Pontypridd: Try G Wyatt; Conversion L Jarvis; Penalties Jarvis 5. He kicked five out of nine and had he been more accurate Ponty would have been out of sight.As it was they had to hang on and put their bodies on the line for more than 80 minutes and when they managed to steal against the head a Colomiers scrum on their own line in the 56th minute you rather got the feeling that it was going to be the home side’s night.But they fully deserved the luck they had and Colomiers fully deserved the rough treatment they got from Jim Fleming. They conjured up a superb try for Gareth Wyatt, tackled like demons and showed the kind of commitment that had been slightly lacking in recent performances.While the outside-half Lee Jarvis provided 17 points with his boot, his goalkicking was not of its usual high quality. They won the European Shield two seasons ago, reached the final of this tournament last year and added the scalp of Saracens last weekend to a collection this season that includes Grenoble, Stade Francais and Brive.Ponty just managed to hang on for a 32-27 home victory over “the other team from Toulouse” in the pool stages last season, but this was a far better performance.

Huw Lewis, the Welsh Rugby Union delegate who was acting as the match commissioner, handed down the 24-month penalty after a lengthy post-match disciplinary hearing.
Nones’ victim was his opposite number, Sven Cronk, who was shown the yellow card for a retaliatory punch.The last-minute scrap showed how much passionate Ponty had frustrated their French opponents in a match in which, by bouncing back from last weekend’s defeat by Munster, they showed that talk of their demise after losing four international players and their coaching team in the summer was exaggerated.Colomiers have a great pedigree. COLOMIERS PAID for their sour approach when they finished this Heineken Cup Pool Four tie last night with 14 men after their replacement prop, Richard Nones, was sent off in injury time for gouging He has been given a two-year ban. These two completely wasted the second new ball.On the first evening 41 per cent of Alan Mullally’s deliveries were left alone and he was no better on the second day. And what has happened to that new trick – the ball that is supposed to swing back into the right hander? Maybe he has left it in England or perhaps he never really had it.At just above military medium, Gavin Hamilton bowled consistently two- and-a-half feet wide of the off-stump to right-handers, so much so that one could only suppose that the straight ball was a secret weapon he had been advised to use sparingly.It was all as embarrassing to watch as it was irritating and I expect that we will now have to suffer the meaningless and futile excuses we have heard so many times before and which will ring even hollower now.. As always he bowled a yard too short – admirable for containment, no earthly use when it comes to taking wickets. This was the much-vaunted Gough who, we had been led to believe, held the key to the series.It was no surprise when he limped off in the afternoon with a sore left knee.

Goodness me, haven’t we had enough of the ongoing dramas concerning Gough’s fitness? Although he came back after tea, it made one long for the fully fit Chris Silverwood.The others? Well, Andy Caddick seemed to drop his bundle as soon as he saw things were not going his way, which was far too soon. Now, the bowlers even silenced the Barmy Army.Darren Gough never looked match fit. There was no rhythm and, although there was the odd good ball, far too many were wide of the stumps and useless. Important for their spirit and confidence and important, too, if they were going to keep faith with the public who have been so generous in their support in spite of recent results.

England’s batsmen did not often have the luxury of being able to let the ball fly harmlessly by.It was important that England, having taken one wicket the previous evening, made a good start early on the second morning. One of the oldest truisms in cricket is that a bowler will not get a batsman out if he does not make him play a stroke. On the second day, that figure rose to almost 40 per cent.The splendid example of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock had been there for all to see. On a grey afternoon with rain about on the first day, these bowlers should have been looking for three or four wickets by the close. That new team spirit should have seen them more focused and on the ball than ever.They bowled 30 overs then and no less than 36 per cent of these 180 balls were wide enough for the batsmen to leave alone.

What happened was that they buckled not only at the knees but at every other conceivable joint as well.By lunch on the second day England were looking a well-beaten side and the seam bowling was seen to be a thing of milk and water. The England camp had been confident of success and, rather than buckle under to that first blow we expected to see them pick themselves up and take the fight to South Africa. The outcome of the series was going to depend on the batsmen scoring enough runs to allow the seam bowlers to show their ability and disrupt a vulnerable South African batting side – or so the story went.
We were told that the combination of coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain had forged a vibrant new team spirit. But what has followed has been completely unacceptable, especially in view of the resounding hype which has been on offer after victory in the last two four-day games

England’s bowling has been talked up to the skies. ENOUGH IS enough.