London Irish dumped out of Parken Pen Shield

London Irish 27, Pontypridd 33 (full-time)

London Irish were dumped out of the Parker Pen Shield by Welsh underdogs Pontypridd at the Kassam Stadium.

After racing into an early lead, Ponty were pegged back before the break.

But for once the deadly boot of Barry Everitt had to give second best as Sardis Road full-back Brett Davey landed four penalties to send his team into the final.

Everitt pulled his team within a converted try of victory on the hour when he punished some cynical Ponty defending which prevented Edwards running a quick tap penalty.

Ponty finally looked to be running out of steam and as the rain started to sweep across the ground, it took some determined defending to keep out a succession of powerful Irish forward drives.

The Welsh side were eventually caught offside but that just brought more pressure as Irish opted against giving Everitt the chance to reduce the gap.

It proved to be an error of judgement as Declan Danaher’s stray boot was spotted by a touch judge and earned Ponty a penalty which cleared their lines.

Crucially, Danaher then tackled Wyatt before the winger had landed having caught Everitt’s high kick and up stepped Davey to restore Ponty’s nine-point lead.

Everitt responded with three minutes remaining but though Irish piled forward looking for a converted try to win the game, Ponty held firm to become the first Welsh club to reach the final.